Valor Friday

Of the hundreds of American prisoners of war (POW) during the Vietnam War, many remained in the service post-war. Unique among conflicts with American involvement, the vast majority of POWs were aircrew, and most of those were officers. Among the well known names of Vietnam POWs are Senator John McCain III (who retired as a US Navy Captain), Colonel Bud Day (USAF Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross recipient), and Vice Admiral James Stockdale (USN Medal of Honor recipient). I’ve previously talked about some other valiant POWs like Captain Lance Sijan and General Charles Boyd. Among the former POWs, though several rose to the flag ranks, only one saw combat in another war almost 20 years after his first taste of battle in Vietnam.

David Baker was from New York. He graduated from Hofstra University in 1968 and joined the Air Force, being commissioned a second lieutenant in February 1969. He qualified for pilot training, and by June 1970 was assigned to an operational unit flying EC-121 Warning Star AWACS aircraft.

Baker then went through forward air control (FAC) training. He was assigned to the 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron at Tan Son Nhut AB in the Republic of Vietnam in January 1972. Flying O-2 Skymaster aircraft, a FAC pilot flies as both an airborne shot caller for close air support, arillery, or naval gunfire and as a liaison/airborne observation post for ground troops.

Even though American involvement in Vietnam was winding down, we were still providing significant airborne support resources to friendly South Vietnamese units. Baker flew 50 combat missions within six months.

It was on one of these missions that Baker first earned a combat bravery decoration. On 9 June, just weeks before he would become a prisoner of the Viet Cong, Baker was flying in support of friendly forces on the ground. They were being attacked by a numerically superior force.

As the men on the ground were fighting and dying, they were very near to being overrun when they asked for Baker’s assistance. Due to heavy, low cloud cover, Baker was unable to call in any tactical airstrikes on the enemy. The small, light O-2 Skymaster flew with no weapons and only had rockets used for marking targets.

Realizing that the situation on the ground was dire, Baker completely disregarded his own safety to fly into a thick hail of enemy small arms fire. Flying low, at near tree-height, he poured his marking rockets into the enemy positions.

The rockets striking within their midst, the enemy attack was broken, and forced their retreat. For his bravery, then-Captain Baker received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

While on his 50th mission on 27 June, Baker was shot down over Cambodia. Captured by the Viet Cong, he would spend 230 days as a prisoner of the communists. He was the only US Air Force man to be repatriated from Cambodia and the first Air Force POW to be released by the Viet Cong for Operation Homecoming (the return of American POWs from internment).

Baker was wounded in the leg, an injury that would haunt him for the rest of his life, when he tried to escape. Stealing a rifle, he shot several of his captors before they were able to subdue him. Eight months after his capture, when he was released, he was still unable to walk unaided.

Wounded and imprisoned by the notoriously brutal communists, Baker composed himself well in captivity. He would receive the Bronze Star Medal with “V” valor device for his time as a POW. The award citation reads, in part;

His ceaseless efforts to conduct himself strictly in accord with the Code of Conduct and policies of the prisoner organization in the difficult conditions of a communist prison clearly demonstrated his loyalty, love of country, and professionalism.

Speaking on the memory of his release, Baker said, it is “something I will always be proud to remember for the rest of my life.” Returning from captivity, the still injured officer spent some time in hospital. Baker then was sent by the Air Force back to school to work on his master’s degree while recuperating physically. He received that degree in 1974 and by then had returned to flight status.

From September 1974 and for the next five years, Baker would be an instructor with the 97th Flying Training Squadron at Williams AFB, Arizona flying T-38 Talon advanced jet trainers. After that assignment, he transitioned into the relatively new F-15 Eagle fighter jet. He then attended a series of professional military education courses and served staff officer assignments.

Throughout the ’80s, he had steadily risen in rank. He was a colonel and deputy commander of the 4th and the 4404th Tactical Fighter Wing in Saudi Arabia from January to August 1991. This means he arrived in the Persian Gulf just in time to participate in the air war over Iraq.

Flying the updated F-15E Strike Eagle (while it can served as an air superiority fighter like the F-15A before it, the Strike Eagle’s primary role is as a tactical bomber and close air support platform) Colonel Baker would fly another 20 combat missions during his second war.

For heroic actions on 21 February 1991 Baker was awarded another Distinguished Flying Cross, this one with “V” for valor. He also received a meritorious Bronze Star Medal for his leadership and foresight as operations officer for the time period of 9 February to 30 April 1991.

After the Gulf War, Baker served in still higher assignments. He culminated his career as a flag officer at the Pentagon, retiring in 1997 as a brigadier general after nearly 30 years of service. Among his other awards and decorations were the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, five Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with bronze star (to indicate a citation in orders at the regiment or brigade level). He and his wife Carol lived in Maryland after his retirement.

General Baker died in 2009 at age 62 of congestive heart failure. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and was survived by his wife and two sons. He was also survived by his identical twin brother, retired US Navy Rear Admiral Stephen Baker. Admiral Baker passed in 2016, and like his brother was an aviator and a veteran of the Gulf War.

In closing, I’ll leave you with a poem that General Baker wrote while in the Viet Cong prison camp. He wrote it down just after his repatriation.

In this camp, there are seven men
All of whom Uncle Sam did send.
“To Vietnam to fight,” he said.
So others can decide how they want to be led.

Gladly we went, but alas for us,
We were captured in battle in the heat and the dust.
Taken away from our families, out of the war,
Then chained to a cage, beaten and sore.

We are Army, Air Force, and Marine
And all of us are ready to scream,
About the inhumane treatment and care,
The Viet Cong call, “lenient and fair.”

As prisoners of war we eat pork fat and rice,
But we think of steak and other things nice.
Our minds seem to dwell in the future and past,
Oh, how long can this war last?

I know that some day we will all be set free.
But, only the good Lord knows when that will be.
The United States, Friends and wives,
Surely it will be the happiest day of our lives.

Until that great and eventful day.
We must all stick together and pray.
And give thanks to God for being alive,
For surely it was He who let us survive.

We will be a little older, but much more wise,
And I don’t mean from listening to Communist lies.
If there is one thing upon which seven men can agree.
That one thing is: Freedom is not free!

Category: Air Force, Historical, POW, Valor, We Remember