Vernon Baker was born December 17, 1919 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. At the age of four, his parents died in a car crash. His maternal grandparents, Dora and Joseph Baker, who had lived in Buxton, Iowa, raised him. His grandmother ran a boarding house for blacks in segregated Cheyenne. His grandfather worked as a brakeman for the Union Pacific railroad. He also taught Vernon how to shoot and hunt. Vernon attended school in Boys Town, in Omaha, for awhile.
He eventually went to high school in Clarinda, living with cousins whom he met at a family funeral in Clarinda. He wrote this impression of his time in Clarinda:
“Things clicked in Clarinda. I lived with Aunt Elsie, lettered in every sport, made a name for myself in the declamatory club. With persistent prodding from my English teacher, Miss Brown, I graduated with honors. Grandpa bought me a new bell-bottomed suit and came to see me get my diploma.”
An African American, he enlisted in the segregated army in 1941, before Pearl Harbor, because he needed steady work. He was originally denied. The recruiter said “We don’t got no quotas for your people.” He tried again and was accepted.
After Germany surrendered, his unit was preparing for the invasion of Japan,
but after Japan surrendered, his unit was deactivated and in late 1946, he sailed
for America.
He stayed in the army until he was 48, joining the all-black airborne battalion
at Ft. Bragg North Carolina. He retired in 1968.
During the war, he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Distinguished Service
Cross, an honor rarely conferred upon an African American. The Italians awarded
him the Croce de Guerra al Valor (the Cross of Valor). The French awarded him
and all black troops the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Polish Cross
of Valor.
After military service he worked for the Red Cross in California and as a military
counselor in Vietnam in 1969. After his wife of many years died in 1986, he
moved to Idaho where he could hunt for elk.