A legendary US Army tunnel rat . . .
"The instinct to survive is tremendous. That's all I did. I just tried to survive.” - John Baker, Vietnam veteran, tunnel rat, and Medal of Honor recipient
Born on October 30, 1945, in Davenport, Iowa, John F. Baker Jr. graduated from high school, enlisted in the Army, and in 1966 was sent to Vietnam.
Within weeks of arriving in country, the 5-foot-2, 105 pound soldier was fighting in the enemy-filled jungles of Vietnam with Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division.
On November 5, 1966, just days after his 21st birthday, Pfc. Baker, (he would soon be promoted to sergeant) was on a mission near Dau Tieng when his unit was suddenly hit by a massive enemy force.
"Our men were getting killed right and left," Baker recalled in an interview with the Library of Congress years later.
With the Viet Cong delivering a withering barrage of small arms, machine gun, and grenade fire against him and his men, Baker “immediately moved to the head of the column, rescued a fallen buddy, and killed four enemy snipers.”
Blown to his feet seconds later by a grenade, the small but muscular Baker, now bleeding from shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs, jumped up and rushed towards the communist position. Over the next hour he singlehandedly killed countless VC, wiped out six enemy machine gun bunkers, and repeatedly risked his life to rescue seven more injured Americans.
"When you see your buddies get killed you sometimes you lose your mind,” he recalled. "You just have that moment that no matter who you are, you need to get in there and get 'em out.”
Recalling the engagement years later, Baker, who had trained to be an Olympic gymnast before enlisting in the Army, said, "At the end of the battle, a few of my comrades counted how many bodies I killed . . . I killed about 250 Vietcong."
For his "selfless heroism, indomitable fighting spirit, and extraordinary gallantry” that saved the lives of eight of his fellow soldiers and stopped the enemy attack, Baker was awarded the Medal of Honor.
During his time in Vietnam, Sgt. Baker also volunteered to be a “tunnel rat,” the name given to men who cleared enemy tunnels and retrieved communist bodies. Using only his pistol and flashlight, the seemingly fearless sergeant completed nearly 100 tunnel rat missions.
Describing the terrifying, serpentine mazes located throughout Vietnam, Baker said, "You had to crawl through 'em and sometimes they were two to three miles long, with trap doors. There were booby traps like snake pits, spider pits, bamboo pits, and scorpion pits. It was a really scary place.”
Postscript:
After returning to the States in 1967, Baker served as a drill instructor at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He retired from the Army in 1989 as a Master Sergeant and later served as vice-president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, visiting schools and meeting with thousands of students to share his love for his country and the US military.
“I would tell students about the flag, how to respect the flag, how to just become a good American, and believe in God and your country," he said in 2011.
Baker, described by his family and friends as a "quiet, wonderful man," died on January 20, 2012, after years of struggling with heart ailments. He was 66. "He didn’t feel like a hero,” his younger sister, Gloria, recalled. “He felt the Medal of Honor belonged to everyone in the Army. He was just its keeper."
Today we pay tribute to MSgt. John Baker, his family, and all those who served, sacrificed, and died during the Vietnam War. We will never forget you
Sgt. Baker during a 1968 Fourth of July parade in Moline, Iowa. Thousands of people came out to see their hometown hero. (PC: Quad-City Times)
US Marine John R. Gartrell, a tunnel rat who performed missions similar to Baker, crawls into a North Vietnamese bunker. (PC: USMC Archives)
Baker receives the Medal of Honor from president Lyndon Johnson at White House ceremony in 1968. Baker's company commander, Capt. Robert F. Foley, who also was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on November 5, 1966, was 6-foot-7 and played basketball at West Point. (PC: US DOD)
John Baker’s final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery. (PC: findagrave)
