FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: SGT John F Baker Jr ~ 23 March 2020

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.

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---

~ Hall of Heroes ~

SGT John F. Baker, Jr.

(Info found here.)

           

John F. Baker, Jr. (October 30, 1945 - January 20, 2012) is a retired United States Army Sergeant who served in the Vietnam War and received the Medal of Honor.

John Baker was born in Davenport, Iowa and attended Moline High School from 1963 to 1966. At only 5’ 1” he was a gymnast before joining the army. His wife thought that gave him the strength and stamina to carry his buddies to safety. He became a “tunnel rat” in Vietnam, a soldier who entered Viet Cong tunnels searching out the enemy and destroying their caches of war material. Baker made the military his career, retiring in 1989. He then began working as a computer analyst at a Veterans Hospital in South Carolina. In addition to serving as the Vice-President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, he serves as a member on the Nation’s Monuments and Cemeteries Committee.

In 2008, the I-280 Bridge, connecting Davenport, Iowa with Rock Island, Illinois, was renamed the Sergeant John F. Baker, Jr., Bridge in honor of Baker.

Baker entered the U.S. Army in Moline, Illinois, serving as a private in A Company, 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry, 25th Division. In Vietnam, Baker took part in Operation Attleboro which began in September 1966. On November 5, 1966, Baker and his unit were called to assist another squad who were taking enemy fire. En route, A Company began to take fire and lost their lead soldier. Together with two other soldiers, Baker took over the head of the column and assisted in destroying two enemy positions. They were moving to take two others when a hand grenade knocked Baker off of his feet.

With the two other soldiers wounded, Baker "single handedly" destroyed another bunker before recovering his comrades. Despite taking further fire from enemy bunkers and snipers, Baker continually fell back to replenish ammunition and take back several wounded. For these actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor along with Captain Robert F. Foley, who also received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle. When awarded the citation, President Lyndon B Johnson stated:

“ The battlefield is the scarred and the lonely landscape of man’s greatest failure. But is a place where heroes walk. Today we come here to the East Room of the White House to honor two soldiers, two soldiers who—in the same battle and at the same time—met the surpassing tests of their lives with acts of courage far beyond the call of duty. Captain Foley and Sergeant Baker fought in the same company. Now, together, they join the noblest company of them all. They fought because their Nation believed that only by honoring its commitments, and only by denying aggression its conquest, could the conditions of peace be created in Southeast Asia and the world."

Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Pfc.), U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, November 5, 1966. Entered service at: Moline, Ill. Born: October 30, 1945, Davenport, Iowa.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. En route to assist another unit that was engaged with the enemy, Company A came under intense enemy fire and the lead man was killed instantly. Sgt. Baker immediately moved to the head of the column and together with another soldier knocked out 2 enemy bunkers. When his comrade was mortally wounded, Sgt. Baker, spotting 4 Viet Cong snipers, killed all of them, evacuated the fallen soldier and returned to lead repeated assaults against the enemy positions, killing several more Viet Cong. Moving to attack 2 additional enemy bunkers, he and another soldier drew intense enemy fire and Sgt. Baker was blown from his feet by an enemy grenade. He quickly recovered and single-handedly destroyed 1 bunker before the other soldier was wounded. Seizing his fallen comrade's machine gun, Sgt. Baker charged through the deadly fusillade to silence the other bunker. He evacuated his comrade, replenished his ammunition and returned to the forefront to brave the enemy fire and continue the fight. When the forward element was ordered to withdraw, he carried 1 wounded man to the rear. As he returned to evacuate another soldier, he was taken under fire by snipers, but raced beyond the friendly troops to attack and kill the snipers. After evacuating the wounded man, he returned to cover the deployment of the unit. His ammunition now exhausted, he dragged 2 more of his fallen comrades to the rear. Sgt. Baker's selfless heroism, indomitable fighting spirit, and extraordinary gallantry were directly responsible for saving the lives of several of his comrades, and inflicting serious damage on the enemy. His acts were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

 

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[radu]

Howdy, PRO.

How’s your weekend gone? Did you spend any time with those silly pups?

[mylife]

https://archive.org/details/BigDipperFreedomClubWichita028601/BigDipper-FreedomClubWichita-0286-01.mp3

[radu]

Nothing is easy about it, if you haven’t used it for a year throw it! :)

That's been my MO for years.
Been trying to get Hubby on the same page but after 20+ years I guess that's a lost cause. LOL

[luvie]

Howdy, radu! Hope you had a good day today. Was it warmer? Drier? All the kitties doing well? Is Jasper still enjoying the indoors?

Ours started off chilly and it finally made it up to about 69. Sunny. The kitties were happy. We were too until we found out that our neighborhood sewer line is stopped up. Not completely yet, but....Our neighbor works for the city and he has a priority order in to fix it, but no telling how long it will take. What a bother. LOL!

[Biggirl]

Hi!

[radu]

Howdy, my.

Fun band! Fast on their feet, too, though I wouldn’t exactly call them graceful. LOL!!!

[radu]

Howdy, luv.

Sounds like we had the same temps today. We even had some sunshine though it was filtered. Still enough to cast shadows. WOOHOO!

Had a little light rain move through around sunset and another batch is closing in now.

Jasper’s still enjoying being in here with the others. At eh moment, he’s behind me on the bed, piled up with Roxy, Isis, Hollian, Avatar, and Percy. He’s so happy to have buddies.

Yikes on your sewer line! I hope they’re able to get that fixed QUICKLY!!!!!

[PROCON]

HI radu!

Son is over tonight for dinner and hanging.

A warm and sunny weekend continues with more expected this upcoming week. I helped Robin with a couple of home projects yesterday.

She had a horrible sewer line backup which flooded her basement and she needed to have Service Master come in and do some major cleaning and restoration which is still ongoing, *Groan*.

But it will get fixed and her homeowners insurance is picking the tab up (after deductible).

Hung out with the pups too.

How wuz your weekend?

[mylife]

I loved them, hard to find good copy.

[mylife]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=big+dipper+band+heavens+full&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dbig%2520dipper%2520band%2520heavens%2520full%26qs%3dn%26form%3dQBVRMH%26sp%3d-1%26pq%3dbig%2520dipper%2520band%2520heavens%2520full%26sc%3d0-28%26sk%3d%26cvid%3dFAB17696B4E644ECB8DC18F6133CDBA8&view=detail&mid=1E571E9161918442E3FF1E571E9161918442E3FF&&FORM=VDRVRV

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Pro...he did an incredible job!

Still spring? We are trying with lots of sunshine and melting.

[MoochPooch]

Evening, Kathy!

Thanks for the bio. Boy, do we need men like him!

(How are you managing? How bad is the situation in Alaska?)

[radu]

Aaaaaaaah, you and Son-boy saving the world again, huh? LOL

Lucky you with the pretty weather you’re having. It was ugly here yesterday but a bit nicer today. We even got to see a little sunshine for a change. But that’s over now for a couple more days. At least it’ll be warmer than yesterday was.

Still working on Robin’s house, are they? I hope they’ve gotten past the clean-up stage by now. That had to have been a mess. Ugh!

Pretty quiet weekend here. Brought a little more stuff from the other house and slowly putting things where I want them .... pictures, stained glass pieces I made several years ago, etc. Not really been nice enough to do much outside.

Being mesmerized by a beautiful aurora “dance” over Manitoba via live stream at the moment. They’ve had some beauties this week.

[radu]

Can’t say I’d heard of them til now. Bet they were a lot of fun to see ‘live’.

[mylife]

the tallest band in boston!

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=big+dipper+band+heavens+full&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dbig%2520dipper%2520band%2520heavens%2520full%26qs%3dn%26form%3dQBVRMH%26sp%3d-1%26pq%3dbig%2520dipper%2520band%2520heavens%2520full%26sc%3d0-28%26sk%3d%26cvid%3dFAB17696B4E644ECB8DC18F6133CDBA8&view=detail&mid=938AC3AD8A83ECB98762938AC3AD8A83ECB98762&rvsmid=1E571E9161918442E3FF1E571E9161918442E3FF&FORM=VDRVRV

[radu]

Yep, they’d have been a fun band to see in clubs and dance up a sweat to. :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu, and thanks for helping honor our troops.

Did you get any warmth today?

Jasper finding new friends?

We have had, and still do, beautiful, blue and sunny skies with lots of melting going on. I even chipped a couple feet of ice down the driveway. My goal is a clear path to the mailbox.

[radu]

The late ‘80s was a really fun era of club bands.

[luvie]

Wow...all those critters on the bed. Is there room for you? LOL! I’m glad he’s fitting in so well. So you had some sunshine, huh. That must have felt good on your face.

Did you ever hear whether the guy at the museum was still not feeling well? Just curious.

[Zuriel]

I have only been here in TN since the very end of 2016. I drove construction trucking all around the Quad Cities (IL and IA metro) during the debate about naming the bridge after SGT Baker. WOC’s Jim Fisher helped keep the support going through his talk show.

There were bleeding heart libs (otherwise known as commies/democrats) that opposed naming the I-280 bridge after him. IIRC I remember him basically saying “just forget the whole idea”. But, thankfully, the patriots prevailed.

Thanks for posting!
(My wife went to Moline High School as well.)