Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker dies at 90
(St. Maries, Idaho)—In Italy’s Apennine Mountains 65 years ago, the men of Company C, 370th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division fought through enemy machine gun nests and bunkers in order to capture the German stronghold of Castle Aghinolfi.
The small castle overlooking a coastal highway was used by the Germans as an artillery observation post. Although three previous assaults on the objective had failed, Second Lt. Vernon J. Baker’s segregated company was ordered to attack again – using a similar approach as the previous assaults. To make matters worse, nearly three-quarters of Baker’s undermanned platoon were replacements, and had seen little or no combat.
At 5 a.m. on April 5, artillery pounded the German position and Charlie Company headed to their objective. Initially, they encountered little resistance, and within about two hours, Baker and his men were within 250 yards of the castle. As they looked for a suitable position to set up their machine gun, Baker saw an enemy telescope pointing out of a slit in the hill. He crawled up to the position and emptied the clip of his M1 Garand rifle into the hole, killing the observation post’s two occupants.
As the unit sought another position, Baker happened upon a concealed German machine gun position, killing the two soldiers as they ate breakfast. Moments later, an enemy grenade struck the company commander in the head, landing five feet from Baker. Luckily, the grenade didn’t explode, and Baker shot another German. Then, Baker grabbed a teammate’s Thompson submachine gun, and proceeded forward alone. Discovering another concealed enemy position, he used a grenade to blow open the door, and used his machine gun and grenade to kill three additional Germans.
As Baker returned to the summit of the hill, German mortar crews had zeroed in on the American position and were inflicting heavy casualties on the small group. Baker directed his forward observer to call in artillery support, but the fire base initially refused as they didn’t believe that the unit had already reached the castle.
The artillery barrage temporarily silenced the enemy mortars, but Baker knew that the Germans would mount a counterattack. His rattled company commander decided to leave the battle – supposedly for reinforcements.
But Baker’s reinforcements would never arrive.
The German mortar barrage resumed, and as the rounds hit the weakened platoon, a platoon of German soldiers disguised as medics and litter-bearers approached to within 50 yards of the American position. Once in place, they removed a machine gun from one of the litters. Baker’s men wiped out the attackers, but as the effective strength of the American force – originally at 25 – was now down to eight, Baker was left with no choice but to withdraw. He personally covered for his men, killing another enemy soldier in the process. The remaining Germans fled to the other side of the hill.
As the men moved down the hill, one man was wounded by a mortar, and a sniper killed the unit’s medic, bringing the party’s number to six. The men discovered two additional bunkers, and Baker disabled the positions with white phosphorous grenades, enabling the beleaguered force to evacuate the casualties to the aid station.
All told, Baker had killed nine enemy soldiers, disabled three machine gun positions, an observation post, and a dugout. But his work was not done. The regimental commander “volunteered” Baker to lead another assault on the castle the next day. Fortunately, the Americans captured the now-deserted castle without firing a shot.
Baker was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for valor. He retired in 1968 after nearly 30 years of distinguished service
In 1993, the Army contacted Shaw University to determine if racism may have been a factor in the fact that no Medals of Honor were awarded to blacks during World War II. Historians did not find any racism in the Army’s policy, but recommended ten black soldiers who received the Distinguished Service Cross for an upgrade. The Army approved seven, and by then, Baker was the only man still alive – the other recipients either died in battle or after the war.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded Vernon Baker the Medal of Honor. Baker accepted the medal on behalf of the 1.2 million black Americans who served during World War II.
“I was an angry young man,” Baker said of how he had felt about serving in a segregated unit. “We were all angry. But we had a job to do, and we did it. My personal thoughts were that I knew things would get better, and I’m glad to say that I’m here to see it.”
“Mr. Baker’s action is a perfect example of both what it takes to receive the Medal of Honor and why it’s nearly impossible to be awarded the decoration,” says national security expert W. Thomas Smith Jr., who has been serving as media relations director for the Medal of Honor Society’s 2010 Convention since 2008. “When Baker’s company was stopped by concentrated machinegun fire from several gun emplacements, he crawled from one position to the next, destroying each position, killing or wounding enemy soldiers, then covering the evacuation of wounded Americans, ultimately leading a battalion advance toward the division objective. It’s one thing to perform heroically in action, for which there are several levels of U.S. awards recognizing bravery. But to receive the Medal of Honor, the performance of the recipient must be so bold, so courageous, so utterly self-sacrificial that the deed is deemed something no mortal man could ever be expected to do in any one lifetime.”
Baker passed away surrounded by family last Tuesday in his home near St. Maries, Idaho, of complications due to brain cancer. He was 90 years old.