Runyon told him that he was going for reinforcements and to cover his withdrawal. American artillery temporarily quieted the mortars, but the German soon launched another counterattack.īaker discovered the company commander overcome by fear. By that point, the Germans had spotted the American platoons and began a mortar attack resulting in high casualties. Runyon retreated to the hill summit while Baker continued on, killing at least four more of the enemy.
Captain Runyon appeared and Baker and Runyon were met with a German grenade, which mercifully did not explode.
Baker surveyed the terrain and killed two Germans in an observation post and another two near a camouflaged machine gun nest. The men set out in the morning and after two hours were within 250 yards of the castle. Three previous attempts to capture the castle had ended in disaster. The goal was to take Castle Aghinolfi, a German artillery post and stronghold on a hill. Seventy percent of the men under Baker’s command were replacements with no previous combat experience. On April 5, 1945, it was the 1st Battalion’ s turn to make a push forward, with Baker’s C Company in the lead. John Runyon and two other white officers arrived in March 1945. When he returned in December, he was the senior-most officer in his unit, until Capt. Baker was seriously wounded and spent two months in the 64th General Hospital in Pisa before being returned to his unit. His squad, which was attempting to take a house on the side of a hill, lost three men right away. In October, Baker had a close call while on night patrol. Above the platoon level, Baker’s regiment and most of the others in the 92nd Infantry Division, were commanded by white officers. Baker became a skilled and valued platoon leader in the first few months in Italy, building a rapport with the men who he directed on nightly patrols. On August 1, 1944, Baker’s regiment landed at Naples, Italy to support the Fifth Army with the intent of fighting their way north and penetrating the Gothic Line. Subsequently he was assigned to command a weapons platoon in the segregated 370th Infantry Regiment of the 92nd Infantry Division. Benning, Baker received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant on January 11, 1943. Baker recalled, “I had it made.” After 13 weeks of OCS training at Ft. Huachuca, Baker was tapped for Officer Candidate School, a bit to his dismay because his assignment up to then as a supply sergeant was easy.
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He heard the words of his grandfather, “If you want to live, boy, learn how to conform.” The 25th Infantry, Baker’s unit, was moved to Geiger Field in Spokane, Washington, where they stayed for nearly a year. From the moment he arrived there on the bus, he experienced the degradation of the Jim Crow South and had to stifle his anger in order to survive. He recalled, “I didn’t say anything because I was going to get in.”īaker trained at Camp Wolters, Texas. Though not his first choice of assignment, the Quartermaster Corps, it would do. He tried again, in June 1941, and was eventually accepted into the infantry. Initially, he was turned away by the recruiter because he was African American, but Baker did not give up. After high school, Baker, not satisfied with his job prospects, looked to the Army for a career. Because of Baker’s struggles with anger and fights with his grandmother, he was sent to live for several years at Father Flanagan’s Boy’s Town in Nebraska. Born in 1919, Baker was orphaned at the age of four and, along with two sisters, was raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming by his grandparents.
Breach the door and kill the enemies on the other side.Vernon Baker led by example many times throughout his life. With the machine gun dispatched you’ll be directed to a nearby door. Find some cover and wait for it to turn away from you and focus on your allies. This will bring you back up to a street where another truck, equipped with a heavy machine gun, will arrive. Follow your squad mates through and you’ll come to another set of stairs. Once they’re all dead your allies will regroup and you can continue. Again, pick off any visible enemy soldiers and then jump down to the ground below.Ĭheck the street to make sure all the enemies have been eliminated. Climb it and you’ll come to a window overlooking the area below. Once they’re cleared out you’ll find a staircase. With the machine gun out of the picture use your vantage point to pick off any enemies left on the ground. Shoot the soldier manning the heavy machine gun. This will take you to a staircase where you’ll find a hole in the wall overlooking the truck at the end of street. Once you’ve reached the buildings head through them, clearing away the enemies inside.
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