Lt. Vernon Baker, MOH recipient

Vernon Baker, who was the only living black veteran awarded the Medal of Honor for valor in World War II, receiving it 52 years after he wiped out four German machine-gun nests on a hilltop in northern Italy, died Tuesday at his home near St. Maries, Idaho. He was 90.
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Mr. Baker received the Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton at age 77.

The cause was complications of brain cancer, said Ron Hodge, owner of the Hodge Funeral Home in St. Maries.

“I was a soldier and I had a job to do,” Mr. Baker said after receiving the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for bravery, from President Bill Clinton in a White House ceremony on Jan. 13, 1997.

But in the segregated armed forces of World War II, black soldiers were usually confined to jobs in manual labor or supply units. Even when the Army allowed blacks to go into combat, it rarely accorded them the recognition they deserved. Of the 433 Medals of Honor awarded by all branches of the military during the war, not a single one went to any of the 1.2 million blacks in the service.

In the early 1990s, responding to requests from black veterans and a white former captain who had commanded black troops in combat, the Army asked Shaw University, a historically black college in Raleigh, N.C., to investigate why no blacks had received the Medal of Honor during World War II. The inquiry found no documents proving that blacks had been discriminated against in decisions to award the medal, but concluded that a climate of racism had prevented recognition of heroic deeds.

Military historians gave the Army the names of 10 black servicemen who they believed should have been considered for the Medal of Honor. Then an Army board, looking at their files with all references to race deleted, decided that seven of these men deserved to be cited for bravery “above and beyond the call of duty.”

Four of the men — Lt. John R. Fox of Cincinnati; Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. of Kansas City, Mo.; Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers of Oklahoma City; and Pvt. George Watson of Birmingham, Ala. — had been killed in action. Two others — Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. of Los Angeles and Lt. Charles L. Thomas of Detroit, who retired as a major — had died in the decades after the war. Those six received the medal posthumously at the White House ceremony in 1997.

Mr. Baker, the lone survivor among the seven, was greeted with a standing ovation as he entered the East Room to the strains of “God Bless America” played by the Marine Corps Band.

Vernon Baker receives MOH from President Clinton in a White House ceremony on Jan. 13, 1997

As Mr. Clinton placed the Medal of Honor around his neck, Mr. Baker stared into space, a tear rolling down his left cheek. “I was thinking about what was going on up on the hill that day,” he said later.

That day was April 5, 1945. Lieutenant Baker, a small man — 5 feet 5 inches and 140 pounds — was leading 25 black infantrymen through a maze of German bunkers and machine gun nests near Viareggio, Italy, a coastal town north of Pisa. About 5 a.m., they reached the south side of a ravine, 250 yards from Castle Aghinolfi, a German stronghold they hoped to capture.

Lieutenant Baker observed a telescope pointing out of a slit. Crawling under the opening, he emptied the clip of his M-1 rifle, killing two German soldiers inside the position. Then he came upon a well-camouflaged machine-gun nest whose two-man crew was eating breakfast. He shot and killed both soldiers.

After Capt. John F. Runyon, his company commander, who was white, joined the group, a German soldier hurled a grenade that hit Captain Runyon in his helmet but failed to explode. Lieutenant Baker shot the German twice as he tried to flee. He then blasted open the concealed entrance of another dugout with a hand grenade, shot one German soldier who emerged, tossed another grenade into the dugout and entered it, firing his machine gun and killing two more Germans.

Enemy machine-gun and mortar fire began to inflict heavy casualties among the platoon. Lieutenant Baker’s company commander had gone back for reinforcements, but they never arrived, so the remnants of the platoon had to withdraw. Lieutenant Baker, supported by covering fire from one of his soldiers, destroyed two machine-gun positions to allow the evacuation. Seventeen of the men in the platoon had been killed by time the firefight ended.

The next night, Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through enemy minefields and heavy fire.

Lieutenant Baker received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest award for bravery. Asked a half-century later whether he had ever given up hope of being awarded the Medal of Honor, he seemed surprised. “I never thought about getting it,” he said.
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Tom Davenport

Vernon Baker, a World War II veteran, received the nation’s highest military award in 1997.

Freddie Stowers, a black veteran of World War I nominated for the medal in 1918, finally received it posthumously from President George Bush in 1991.

Vernon Joseph Baker was born on Dec. 17, 1919, in Cheyenne, Wyo., the son of a carpenter. After his parents died in an automobile accident when he was 4, he and two older sisters moved in with their grandparents, who also lived in Cheyenne.

The youngster developed a penchant for trouble, so he was sent to Boys Town in Omaha at age 10. He stayed there for three years, then earned a high school diploma while living with an aunt in Iowa.

He joined the Army in June 1941 and was sent to Camp Wolters, Tex., for basic training — his first trip to the Deep South. When he boarded a bus to the camp after stepping off the train, the driver shouted a racial epithet and told him to “get to the back of the bus where you belong,” he recalled years later in an interview with The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash.

When he began to show leadership potential, he was sent to Officer Candidate School, graduating as a second lieutenant in 1942. He went to Italy in 1944 with the 92nd Infantry Division’s 370th Regiment, which was composed of black enlisted men and black junior officers but had white officers in senior positions.

In October 1944, Lieutenant Baker was shot in the arm by a German soldier, and when he awoke from surgery he noticed that he was in a segregated hospital ward.

After the war, he remained in Italy for three years, then returned to the United States and re-enlisted. He stayed in the Army until 1968, then worked for the Red Cross at Fort Ord, Calif., counseling needy military families. After his first wife, Fern, died in 1986, he retired and moved to a rural section of Idaho to pursue his love of hunting.

Mr. Baker’s survivors include his second wife, Heidy; three children from his first marriage; a stepdaughter; and a stepgrandson.

Asked at the awards ceremony how he had felt about serving in a segregated unit, Mr. Baker replied: “I was an angry young man. 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.”

Resource:
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
nytimes.com

Welcome Home Hero, Majors Field Greenville

(Dallas, TX) July 13, 2010  We are honored to announce the homecoming of our hometown hero.  The chartered flight from Dover AFB is scheduled to arrive at Greenville’s Majors Field Airport (Map Link: – http://tinyurl.com/25pjx4b) on Wednesday July 14, 2010 at approximately 1:05 PM.

After a brief dignified transfer ceremony on the tarmac, his procession will proceed to Rest Haven Funeral Home (Map Link: http://tinyurl.com/2ezw5wr) led by the Patriot Guard Riders of North Texas.

USFallen.org has obtained permission to film Spc. Jerod Heath Osborne’s homecoming and interment services.  The family welcomes and is appreciative of the public’s desire to Welcome Our American Hero Home.

As result of 6 fallen warriors since 2003, the patriotic citizens of Greenville know how to welcome a hero home. The citizens of Rockwall are encouraged to come out and show our appreciation for the sacrifice made by this soldier, his family, friends, and community.

HATERS and PROTESTERS need not show up and are encouraged to pray for redemption.

US Army WWI Soldier

The Department of Defense announced Jul. 7th, that the remains of a soldier — missing in action since World War I — have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Private Thomas D. Costello of New York, N.Y., will be buried on July 12 at Arlington National Cemetery.

On Sept. 16, 1918, as part of the 60th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, Costello encountered heavy enemy artillery barrage and machine gun fire near Jaulny, France, in a wooded area known as Bois de Bonvaux, Army officials said. He was killed during the battle and his remains were buried with two other soldiers in a wooded area between Bois de Bonvaux and Bois de Grand Fontaine.

Unfortunately, efforts to find and retrieve Costello’s remains by Army officials after the war were unsuccessful.

But in September 2006, French nationals hunting for metal in the area found human remains and World War I artifacts, officials said. Later, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team, operating near the location, was notified of the discovery and recovered human remains upon excavating the site.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC laboratory also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

The Army contact Costello’s next of kin, Michael Frisbie, 43, who had no idea he even had a great-great uncle in the “Great War.”

“He was on my father’s side of the family, which I didn’t know very well,” Frisbie told NBCNewYork, when contacted by telephone in Stockton Springs Maine. He said his parents divorced when he was only six months old, and didn’t know much about his paternal relatives.

But that didn’t lessen Frisbie’s reverence for the man who died for his country.

“Of course, I never knew him personally but It’s a whole respect thing — he’s a soldier, he’s a soldier of the United States,” said Frisbie, who is now in possession of Rosary beads that were found with Costello’s remains in France.

“I’m not a religious man, but I have my beliefs,” he said.

He also noted that his own daughter had just graduated boot camp in the Air Force and would be shipping overseas soon.

Frisbie, his wife and their daughter are headed down to Arlington, Va., this weekend to attend the burial.

Army officials didn’t have an exact date of birth for Private Costello, but said he was 25 years and 4 months old at the time of his enlistment, on September 19, 1917. That means that at the time of his death he was 26 years and 4 months old.

Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist who helped work on the Costello case said his draft registration card said he was morn on May 1, 1892. She also noted that Costello was an immigrant, originally born in Ireland.

She said the Defense Department’s program to recover, identify and return soldiers’ remains from all wars was a noble effort.

“I think folks would appreciate knowing that ‘no man left behind’ is more than an expression,” Smolenyak told NBCNewYork.

By HASANI GITTENS nbcnewyork.com

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of seven servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

C47A Skytrain from World War II

On May 23, 1944, the men were aboard a C-47A Skytrain that departed Dinjan, India, on an airdrop mission to resupply Allied forces near Myitkyina, Burma.  When the crew failed to return, air and ground searches found no evidence of the aircraft along the intended flight path.

In late 2002, a missionary provided U.S. officials a data plate from a C-47 crash site approximately 31 miles northwest of Myitkyina.  In 2003, a Burmese citizen turned over human remains and identification tags for three of the crew members.

A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team excavated the crash site in 2003 and 2004, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including an identification tag for Dawson.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the crewmembers’ families – as well as dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

C47A

They were assigned to: US Army Air Corp, 4th Troop Carrier Squadron, 60th Troop Carrier Group,

Army Capt. Joseph M. Olbinski, Chicago;

1st Lt. Joseph J. Auld, Floral Park, N.Y.;

1st Lt. Robert M. Anderson, Millen, Ga.;

Tech. Sgt. Clarence E. Frantz, Tyrone, Penn.;

Pfc. Richard M. Dawson, Haynesville, Va.;

Pvt. Robert L. Crane, Sacramento, Calif.;

Pvt. Fred G. Fagan, Piedmont, Ala.,

All were identified and all are to be interred July 15 in Arlington National Cemetery.

TOKYO — The remains of a U.S. sailor missing in action from the Korean War have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial at Arlington National Cemetery on July 12, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

Langwell remains returned 06/30/10being returned to his family for burial at Arlington National Cemetery on July 12, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

Ensign Robert W. Langwell, of Columbus, Ind., was aboard the minesweeper USS Magpie when it sank on Oct. 1, 1950, after striking a mine off the coast of Chuksan-ri, South Korea. Twelve crewmen were rescued, but Langwell was among 20 men lost at sea, according to the DOD release.

In 2008, while canvassing towns for information about missing servicemembers, a South Korean defense ministry recovery and identification team learned from an elderly fisherman that he and villagers at Chuksan-ri had buried an American serviceman in 1950 after his body was caught in a fishing net, the release said.
The remains and military artifacts were excavated in April 2009 and turned over to U.S. Forces Korea, which sent them to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii for forensic identification.

With Langwell’s accounting, 8,025 servicemembers still remain missing from the Korean War, according to the release.

Resource: Stars and Stripes
Published: June 30, 2010

Sailor Missing From Korean War Identified DOD Press Release

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
U.S. Navy Ensign Robert W. Langwell, of Columbus, Ind., will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on July 12. On Oct. 1, 1950, Langwell was serving on the minesweeper USS Magpie when it sank after striking an enemy mine off the coast of Chuksan-ri, South Korea. Twelve crewmen were rescued, but Langwell was one of 20 men lost at sea.
In June 2008, personnel from the Republic of South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) canvassed towns in South Korea in an effort to gather information regarding South Korean soldiers unaccounted-for from the Korean War. An elderly fisherman, interviewed in the village of Chuksan-ri, reported that he and other villagers had buried an American serviceman in 1950 when his body was caught in the man’s fishing net.
The MAKRI located the burial site on April 28, 2009, where they excavated human remains and military artifacts. The burial site was approximately three miles west of where the USS Magpie sank in 1950. The team turned the remains and artifacts over to U.S. Forces Korea, which sent them to Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command for analysis.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, JPAC scientists used dental comparisons in the identification of Langwell’s remains.
With Langwell’s accounting, 8,025 service members still remain missing from the Korean War.

YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper:

Laid down, 3 July 1942 by Henry B. Nevins, Inc., City Island, New York, NY; Launched, 24 March 1943; Completed, 14 May 1943; Commissioned as USS YMS-400, 15 May 1943; Named Magpie and reclassified as a Motor Minesweeper, AMS-25, 17 February 1947; Struck a floating mine 2 miles off Chusan Po, Korea and sank, 1 October 1950; Struck from the Naval Register, 20 October 1950.

Magpie_Guam_1948

Specifications: Displacement 270 t.; Length 136′; Beam 25′; Draft 8′; Speed 15 kts; Complement 32; Armament, one single 3″/50 gun mount, two 20mm, two dct, two dcp; Propulsion, two 1,000shp General Motors diesels, two shafts.

ACTION REPORT
Loss of USS Magpie, 1 October 1950

Brief narrative report of loss of USS Magpie while on Minesweeping duty off Chusan Po, Korea. Ship’s forward portion exploded and after section settled by the head when Magpie struck a mine. 12 survivors.

10 October 1950
USS Dixie (AD 14)
From: CARPENTER, Vail P., BMC, 393 08 57 US Navy
To: Secretary of the Navy
(1) Commander Mine Division Fifty-two
(2) Commander United Nations Blockading and Escort Force, Far East
(3) Commander Naval Forces, Far East
(4) Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
(5) Chief of Naval Operations
Subject: Loss of the USS MAGPIE (AMS25)
Photos provided by Ed Clanton of Lumber Bridge, North Carolina.

Reference: US Navy Regulations 1948, Article 0778

1. As senior survivor of the USS MAGPIE (AMS25), my version of the MAGPIE loss is as follows: At about 1700, minus 9 zone time, 1 October 1950, I was on watch on the fantail, during mine-sweeping operations. The starboard sweep gear and magnetic tail were streamed. Three hundred fathoms of sweep wire was in use. We were in approximate position latitude 36-30 N., longitude 129-30 E., off Chusan Po, Korea, and on a southerly course. Steaming at ten knots. The USS MERGANSER (AMS26) was stationed about five hundred yards astern and to starboard of the MAGPIE. At about this time there was a tremendous explosion forward and the entire forward portion of the ship, forward of the stack, appeared to explode. The remainder of the ship immediately started to settle by the head. During this period I took shelter under the towing winch but could see forward. After the debris stopped falling I assisted in launching the port after ten-man life raft. After that I proceeded as far forward as I could to the break abreast of the stack, on both port and starboard sides, with the view of assisting any survivors or saving the ship. I encountered no one. After this inspection I abandoned ship, port side, to assist BENNETT, 365 32 49, EMFN, USN, who was in the water and shouting for help. BENNETT was injured and unable to adjust and inflate his life jacket. I assisted BENNETT to the raft and both of us boarded the raft. After being in the water and on the raft for a period of about thirty minutes, the USS MERGANSER (AMS26) Wherry towed us to the MERGANSER.

2. There were twelve survivors: CARLOCK, Dale T., 344 79 03, FN, USN; CARPENTER, Vail P., 393 08 57, BMC, USN; DOBBS, Thomas D., 325 16 58, ETSN, USN; ESPINOZA, Leo L., 369 20 83, SN, USN; KEPFORD, James W., 345 02 15, FN, USN; McCLAIN, James H., 569 02 59, FN, USN; HARRISON, William E., 234 41 27, GM3, USN; BENNETT, Alex W., 365 32 49, EMFN, USN; BENSON, Richard B., 325 74 34, SN, USN; BLASSINGAME, Henry A., 581 07 35, CSSA, USN; KASTENS, Howard L., 344 82 35, USN; SANDERS, Howard W., 570 94 48, QM3, USN. The first seven survivors are now quartered on board USS DIXIE (AD14). The last five were transferred by USS MERGANSER to USS REPOSE (AH15) at Pusan, Korea for treatment. I do not know what disposition was later made of them.

3. To the best of my knowledge all records and logs were lost, except pay accounts which were on board the USS DIXIE (AD14). Pay account of HARRISON, W.E., 234 41 27, USN, were lost with the USS MAGPIE.

4. It is understood that Commander United Nations Blockading and Escort Force, Far East, had ordered an investigation to inquire into the circumstances resulting in the sinking of the USS MAGPIE and the injury or loss of the members of her crew. – (signed) VAIL P. CARPENTER

Photos provided by Ed Clanton of Lumber Bridge, North Carolina.

CASUALTY LIST – MAGPIE DEATHS

1. LT. (jg) Warren R. Person, USN, Pacific Grove, CA
2. LT. (jg) Donald V. Wanee, USN, Gardena, CA
3. ENS. Robert E. Wainwright, USN, North Andover, MA
4. ENS. Robert W. Langwell, USN, Indianapolis, IN
5. Robert A. Beck, BMC, USN, Richmond, CA
6. Richard D. Scott, BM1, USN, Peru, IN
7. Seth D. Durkee, QM1, USN, Cashmere, WA
8. George G. Cloud, EN1, USN, Oakland, CA
9. Lloyd E. Hughes, CS1, USN, Ottawa, KS
10. Roy A. Davis, HM1, USN, Russellville, KY
11. Cleveland G. Rogers, SO2, USN, Foxworth, MS
12. Richard A. Coleman, YBN3, USN, Lewistown, MT
13. Vincente Q. Ferjaran, SD3, USN, Asan, Guam
14. Charles R. Bash, RDSN, USN, Dixon Valley, PA
15. Theodore A. Cook, QMSN, USN, Sacramento, CA
16. Stanley L. Calhoun, EMFN, USN, Pembroke, KY
17. James C. Dowell, EMFN, USN, Stockton, CA
18. Harry E. Ferrell, ENFN, USN, Cleveland, OH
19. Charles T. Horton, CSSN, USN, Columbiana, AL
20. Eugene P. Krouskoupf, SN, USN, Zanesville, OH
21. Unknown