[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 109 (Thursday, July 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6195-S6196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING FIRST LIEUTENANT VERNON BAKER
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 1LT
Vernon Baker, a native of Cheyenne, WY. Our Nation has lost a son of
Wyoming and hero of World War II.
First Lieutenant Baker not only fought the fascist Axis powers but he
also fought to serve in a segregated U.S. Army. Vernon Baker's life
story is a testament to no door or opportunity can be permanently shut
in the United States.
As a young man, Mr. Baker made the decision to serve his country in
World War II by joining the U.S. Army. He was initially told by Army
recruiters he could not sign up because he was Black. His determination
to serve his country was not deterred. Vernon returned to the Cheyenne
recruiting office and found a recruiter who would sign him up.
First Lieutenant Baker went on to serve with the 92nd Infantry
Division's 370th Regiment, an all Black unit in Italy. Throughout his
World War II service, Mr. Baker was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple
Heart, and the Distinguished Service Cross. Fifty years later, First
Lieutenant Baker was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership and
bravery in destroying a number of German positions near Viareggio,
Italy, almost single handedly.
I thank Mr. Baker for his service. Mr. Baker is survived by wife
Heidy, four children, and a grandson.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
First Lieutenant Baker's Medal of Honor citation and an article that
appeared in the Casper Star Tribune.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record as follows:
Citation: For extraordinary heroism in action on 5 and 6
April 1945, near Viareggio, Italy. Then Second Lieutenant
Baker demonstrated outstanding courage and leadership in
destroying enemy installations, personnel and equipment
during his company's attack against a strongly entrenched
enemy in mountainous terrain. When his company was stopped by
the concentration of fire from several machine gun
emplacements, he crawled to one position and destroyed it,
killing three Germans. Continuing forward, he attacked an
enemy observation post and killed two occupants. With the aid
of one of his men, Lieutenant Baker attacked two more machine
gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy soldiers
occupying these positions. He then covered the evacuation of
the wounded personnel of his company by occupying an exposed
position and drawing the enemy's fire. On the following night
Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through
enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the division
objective. Second Lieutenant Baker's fighting spirit and
daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and
exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.
____
[From the Associated Press]
Medal of Honor Hero Dies
Wyoming native overcame discrimination, segregation in military
(By Rebecca Boone)
St. Maries, Idaho.--Wyoming native Vernon Baker, who
belatedly received the Medal of Honor for his role in World
War II, died at his home near St. Maries, Idaho. He was 90.
Baker died Tuesday of complications of brain cancer,
Benewah County Coroner and funeral home owner Ron Hodge said.
Then-President Bill Clinton presented the nation's highest
award for battlefield valor to Baker in 1997. He was one of
just seven black soldiers to receive it and the only living
recipient.
``The only thing that I can say to those who are not here
with me is, `Thank you, fellas, well done,' '' Baker told The
Washington Post after the ceremony. `` `And I will always
remember you.' ''
In 1944, 2nd Lt. Baker was sent to Italy with a full
platoon of 54 men. On April 5, he and his soldiers found
themselves behind enemy lines near Viareggio, Italy.
When concentrated enemy fire from several machine gun
emplacements stopped his company's advance, Baker crawled to
one and destroyed it, killing three Germans. Continuing
forward, he attacked an enemy observation post and killed two
occupants.
With the aid of one of his men, Baker attacked two more
machine gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy
soldiers occupying these positions. Then he covered the
evacuation of his wounded soldiers by occupying an exposed
position and drawing the enemy's fire.
On the following night, Baker voluntarily led a battalion
advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire.
In all, Baker and his platoon killed 26 Germans and
destroyed six machine gun nests, two observer posts and four
dugouts.
[[Page S6196]]
He said later he felt the company commander, who said he
was going to get reinforcements, had abandoned his group of
men. ``It made me all the more determined to accomplish our
mission,'' he told the PBS series ``American Valor.''
``Because at that time the Army was segregated. It was
thought that we were unable to fight.''
No black soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during
World War II, although Baker did receive the Purple Heart, a
Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Cross.
In 1993, U.S. Army officials contracted Shaw University in
Raleigh, N.C., to determine if there was a racial disparity
in the way Medal of Honor recipients were selected. The
university researchers found that there was, and recommended
10 soldiers to receive it. From that list, Pentagon officials
picked seven.
But there was one problem--the statutory limit for
presentation had expired. Congress was required to pass
legislation that allowed the president to award the Medals of
Honor so long after the action.
Baker was the only recipient still living; the other six
soldiers received their awards posthumously, with their
medals being presented to family members.
Baker was initially rebuffed when he tried to join the
Army. Baker said in an interview with public television that
a recruiter told him that there was no quota for enlisting
``you people.''
Reflecting on life in a segregated Army unit, he told The
Washington Post, ``I was an angry young man. We were all
angry. But we had a job to do, and we did it.'' He added,
though, that he ``knew things would get better, and I'm glad
to say that I'm here to see it.''
Baker returned to his northern Idaho home after the war.
When he received a call telling him he was to receive a Medal
of Honor, at first he was astonished. Then he was angry.
``It was something that I felt should have been done a long
time ago,'' he told Idaho public television. ``If I was
worthy of receiving the Medal of Honor in 1945, I should have
received it then.''
Baker called his 1997 memoir ``Lasting Valor.''
U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick said he met Vernon Baker in the
1990s when the soldier spoke at a College of Idaho event.
Minnick said he'd been expecting a tough, battle-hardened
soldier, but says he was instead struck by Baker's gentle
demeanor. Minnick said Baker's valor on the battlefield in
Italy was a rebuke of racist policies that dominated the U.S.
military into the middle of the last century.
``His actions on the front line demonstrates better than
words can describe why discrimination and segregation in the
military was both unfair and absolutely inconsistent with an
effective fighting force,'' Minnick said. ``He demonstrated a
degree of courage few people have. He was prepared to give
his life for his country--a country in which he was
considered a second-class citizen.''
Baker was born in 1919 in Wyoming. Orphaned as a small
child, he was raised by his grandparents in Cheyenne. He was
working as a railroad porter when he decided to join the Army
in mid-1941, a few months before Pearl Harbor.
In 2004, Baker underwent emergency surgery to remove a
malignant brain tumor. Before he fell ill, he had failed to
sign up for benefits from Veterans Affairs and Medicare, not
realizing what the requirements were. Community members and
politicians in Idaho pitched in to help him get aid for his
unpaid medical bills.
Hodge said Baker continued to battle brain cancer over the
next years, and he recently began receiving hospice care at
his home. Baker was surrounded by his family when he died
Tuesday evening.
Hodge said Baker's wife, Heidi Baker, plans to have a
memorial service in St. Maries but the arrangements have not
yet been made. He said Heidi Baker also planned to talk with
military officials about possibly having Baker buried at
Arlington National Cemetery.
A war hero, Baker was also a man of peace. After receiving
the award, he told a newspaper reporter for the Moscow-
Pullman Daily News: ``I hope never to see someone else having
the Medal of Honor hung around his neck by the president of
the United States. You young people coming up, please don't
take war as a solution to a problem. God gave you the brains
to think and not to use violence as a means to an end.''
____________________