b. 30/10/1945 Davenport, Iowa. d. 20/01/2012 Columbia, South Carolina.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 05/11/1966 Vietnam.
John F Baker MOH
Baker was born in Davenport, Iowa, and attended Moline High School from 1963 to 1966. At 5’ 1”, he was a gymnast before joining the army. Baker entered the U.S. Army in Moline, Illinois, serving as a private in A Company, 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division. 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. In Vietnam, he took part in Operation Attleboro which began in September 1966. He also earned the nickname of “The Giant Killer” due to his lack of height. He received the Medal of Honor in the East Ballroom of The White House on 1 May 1968 from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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 served 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 his honor. Baker suffered from heart problems in the last years of his life and began using oxygen in 2010. He died aged 66 on January 20, 2012, after collapsing at his Northeast Richland home. He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
MOH CITATION:
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.
BURIAL LOCATION: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.
SECTION 34 GRAVE 687
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
