Vernon Baker was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Dec. 17, 1919. The first time he walked into a recruiting office, there was a Sergeant sitting behind the desk. He asked Baker what he wanted.
Baker responded, "I'm here to enlist in the Army."
The Sergeant said, "well, we don't have any quotas for you people." With that, the Sergeant turned his back on Baker and went back to what he was doing, as if Baker was invisible. Baker was furious and swore never to return. However, there was no work to be found, and he hated being unable to provide for himself. So he swallowed his pride and went back again.
This time there was a different soldier sitting behind the desk. When he asked Baker if he could help him he said, "yes, I'm here to enlist in the Army." The soldier said, "well, come right in and sit down." Baker ended up at Camp Waters, Texas, in the infantry.
He was put in a segregated platoon in a white company, OCS class 148. It was the same old thing, the blacks were put into separate barracks, separated from everyone, except when they went to class. Baker once said, ""
In 1944 Baker was sent to Italy with a full platoon of 54 men. On April 5th he and the men found themselves behind enemy lines. They'd been briefed that there was a push expected, but they didn't know what part they would play until the night of April 3rd. All the officers and N.C.O.'s had been called together and were told their mission was to go up hill X and take castle Aghinolfi which was 3 miles behind enemy lines.
They got 3/4 of the way up to the castle. They had started up the hill with 25 men, and came down the hill with only 7 men. In the process of going up the hill they'd cut the lines of communication, which let them get through unnoticed. When the enemy spotted Baker's men they were cut to pieces. Baker and his platoon had killed 26 Germans, destroyed 6 machine gun nests, 2 observer posts and 4 dugouts. Baker earned a Distinguished Service Cross, only 1 of 9 African-Americans to be so honored in WWII.
After the war, Baker returned to Idaho. One day he received a phone call telling him he was to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions 50 years prior. At first he was astonished. Then he got angry. It was something that should have been done long, long ago. He felt that if he'd been worthy of receiving the Medal of Honor in 1945, he should have gotten it then, in 1945, not 50 years later.
He once said in an interview, "I like to be right and I know in my heart we were right. And we were a heck of a lot better than the people who ran us down thought we were."
On January 13, 1997 Vernon Baker received his Congressional Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton. He is the only living African-American WWII hero to receive the Medal of Honor.
