Born: January 10, 1949
Providence, RI
War: Vietnam
Rank: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company
D, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division
Location of action: Phuoc Long Province, Republic
of Vietnam
Date of action: February
10, 1970
Medal received from: Richard Nixon, June 15, 1971
Official Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk
of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Specialist Fourth
Class Baca, Company D, distinguished himself while serving on
a recoilless rifle team during a night ambush mission A platoon
from his company was sent to investigate the detonation of an
automatic ambush device forward of his unit's main position
and soon came under intense enemy fire from concealed positions
along the trail. Hearing the heavy firing from the platoon position
and realizing that his recoilless rifle team could assist the
members of the besieged patrol, Specialist Fourth Class Baca
led his team through the hail of enemy fire to a firing position
within the patrol's defensive perimeter. As they prepared to
engage the enemy, a fragmentation grenade was thrown into the
midst of the patrol. Fully aware of the danger to his comrades,
Specialist Fourth Class Baca unhesitatingly, and with complete
disregard for his own safety, covered the grenade with his steel
helmet and fell on it as the grenade exploded, thereby absorbing
the lethal fragments and concussion with his body. His gallant
action and total disregard for his personal well-being directly
saved 8 men from certain serious injury or death. The extraordinary
courage and selflessness displayed by Specialist Fourth Class
Baca, at the risk of his life, are in the highest traditions
of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his
unit, and the U.S. Army. Of Note:
John Baca Park, in Huntington Beach, California is named in his honor. At the park's dedication, Baca said:
“I am an ordinary citizen who answered my country’s
call to duty and performed that duty to the very best of
my ability. I pray that so naming this park will serve to
instill in the minds of generations to come the idea that
the liberty we enjoy must be ever so carefully guarded and
when they are called upon to defend those liberties, they
do so willingly, as I and so many others already have, in
order that this nation, as we know it, shall not perish”
In 1990, as part of the Veterans Vietnam Restoration Project,
John Baca, along with ten other members, went to Yen Vien,
a village north of Hanoi, where they spent eight weeks building
a health clinic alongside the Vietnamese.
Watch video clip of John Baca.
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John
Baca