- NAME: Vernon J. Baker
- OCCUPATION: Military Leader
- BIRTH DATE: December 17, 1919
- DEATH DATE: July 13, 2010
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Cheyenne, Wyoming
- PLACE OF DEATH: Idaho
BEST KNOWN FOR:
Vernon Baker was a highly decorated soldier and the only living black WWII veteran to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Vernon J. Baker was orphaned at age four and raised by his grandparents in Cheyenne, Wyoming - a town that had just a dozen other black families. During his adolescence, he spent two years at Father Flanagan's Boys Home in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from high school in Iowa, and began work as a railroad porter. He later got tired of working as a railroad porter and he was enlisted in the US Army in June, 1941. He was assigned to the segregated 270th Regiment of the 92nd Infantry Division, the first black unit to go into combat in World War II.
In the spring of 1945, Baker - the only black officer in his company - was in command of a weapons platoon made up of two light-machine-gun squads and two mortar squads.
Baker earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Distinguished Service Cross during his time in service. He remained in the military until 1968, lived through its desegregation, and became one of the first blacks to command an all-white company. He joined the U.S. Army Airborne along the way, and trained to be a military parachutist. He made his last jump at age 48.
On January 13th, 1997, 52 years after Baker's World War II military service, President Clinton presented him with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest decoration for battlefield valor. He was one of the most highly decorated black soldiers in the Mediterranean Theater. He was also the only living black World War II veteran to earn the Medal of Honor.
Source
"Vernon J. Baker Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/vernon-j-baker-403080?page=1>.
"Vernon J. Baker Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. <http://www.biography.com/people/vernon-j-baker-403080?page=1>.