John F. Baker, Jr.

John Franklin Baker Jr. (October 30, 1945 – January 20, 2012) was a United States Army master sergeant who served in the Vietnam War and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Personal life Baker was born in Davenport, Iowa, and attended Moline High School from 1963 to 1966. At 5' 1", he was a gymnast before joining the army. He became a "tunnel rat" in Vietnam, a soldier who entered Viet Cong tunnels searching out the enemy and destroying their caches of war material. Baker made the military his career, retiring in 1989. He then began working as a computer analyst at a Veterans Hospital in South Carolina. In addition to serving as the Vice-President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, he served as a member on the Nation's Monuments and Cemeteries Committee.

In 2008, the I-280 Bridge, connecting Davenport, Iowa with Rock Island, Illinois, was renamed the Sergeant John F. Baker Jr. Bridge in his honor.

In 2018, the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois put his name on a street in its new Eagle Point Housing Area.

Baker suffered from heart problems in the last years of his life and began using oxygen in 2010. He died aged 66 on January 20, 2012, after collapsing at his Northeast Richland home. thumb

Medal of Honor citation Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Pfc.), U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, November 5, 1966. Entered service at: Moline, Ill. Born: October 30, 1945, Davenport, Iowa.

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Awards and decorations alt=A metal device depicting a blue bar with a rifle, in front of a wreath of silver leaves.