Troy's Heroes, "Take eight with you",...

[SEATJERKER]

Those names are still revered throughout the city as if their heroics on a Pacific island 6,000 miles away happened just yesterday. More than 60 years ago, the two friends met their fate in one of the bloodiest and decisive battles of World War II.


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Lt. Col. William O'Brien and Sgt. Thomas Baker grew up together in Lansingburgh, went to the same schools, and joined the same National Guard unit based in the old armory at RPI.
Later, they both were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, for actions they took in the Battle of Saipan on the same day.
"You would be hard pressed to find any two other soldiers from the same town that were given the medal for the same battle, much less on the same day," said Michael Aikey, director of the New York Military Museum in Saratoga Springs. "They are two of the region's most well-known soldiers."
Not much is known about the men's early lives, or exactly how close they were as friends. But historians have anecdotal evidence that suggests they were more than just acquaintances.
"They definitely knew each other, and had a connection," Aikey said.
O'Brien was leaner and a little more softspoken than Baker, who is described in a report as a bulldog, with "bulging biceps to match his tough demeanor." If they were different in outward appearance, then they apparently had similar constitutions. O'Brien is described as a "cocky little rooster of a man who couldn't stand still."
After Baker and O'Brien's guard unit was "federalized" into the 105th Infantry, 27th Division in late 1943, they headed to the Pacific at a time when Allied forces were gaining a slight advantage, but still faced heavy fighting on an archipelago called the Mariana Islands.
One of the islands, Saipan, held a major Japanese naval base that was a key staging area for that country's entire military machine. With victories at Midway, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal, Allied forces were beginning to gain momentum, inching closer to Tokyo.
But as the Army and Marines took each island after costly battles, the fighting only got worse. The Japanese were not giving up until all of their men were dead, and they were increasingly using desperate tactics.
That was the situation when Baker and O'Brien arrived at Saipan on June 18, 1944, as one of two lead divisions to spearhead the assault on entrenched Japanese positions following several days of heavy bombardment from a Navy battle group.
On the first day of fighting, the 1st battalion was met with heavy artillery fire. Having not previously faced combat, the group nearly disbanded, a military report shows. But the same report, contained in a file at the museum, states O'Brien was able to pull together his men quickly, a baptism of fire in leadership.
For the next few days, the 27th Division slogged through dense jungle punctuated by ridges that would open up to lengthy limestone plateaus with little or no overgrowth. The immediate goal was take the highest point from the east and then to push the Japanese out to sea.
The 1st battalion suffered minimal casualties after facing small, scattered Japanese units, and continued to make headway until June 28. As they approached the final ridge, the Japanese hit them with their most intense fire yet.
Under a barrage of gunfire, O'Brien ordered three tanks to move in advance to soften the Japanese, but the tanks' turrets soon closed from being riddled with enemy bullets, forcing them to lose direction and fire on their own troops.
In full view of the enemy, O'Brien ran to the lead tank, and with his pistol butt banged on the outside. After getting the crew's attention, O'Brien then hopped on top, pistol in hand, and led an assault that wiped out the Japanese strongpoint.
On the next day, facing another bitterly defended ridge in the vicinity of Donnay, O'Brien devised a plan to take the ridge by conducting a double envelopment with two combat battalions.
In order to lead the assault, O'Brien crossed 1,200 yards of sniper-infested underbrush alone to arrive at a point where one of his platoons was being stymied by enemy troops. He then led four men into a narrow ravine from behind, and killed, or drove off all of the Japanese from the position.
Throughout the night, O'Brien and comrades defended their precarious position. As dawn broke, they still held the key point on the ridge.
Meanwhile, Baker, who was in Company A in the 1st battalion, was facing much of the same action. While in the same battalion, Baker was not in the same company that O'Brien commanded. It is not known how much contact, if any, was made between the two men during this time.
During the ascent of the ridges, Baker's company was held up by intense gunfire from the Japanese, who had a clear view of the company from above, a dangerous situation.
Baker voluntarily took a bazooka, and went alone to within 100 yards of the enemy position. Through heavy gunfire, Baker himself knocked out the strongpoint of the fortification, allowing his company to assault the ridge.
Days later, Baker volunteered to watch the back flank of the company as it advanced through open terrain with many areas for the enemy to conceal themselves.
When Baker discovered a covey of two Japanese officers and 10 enlisted men perched for a surprised attack, Baker single-handedly killed all of them. Only 500 hundred yards further, Baker flushed out six more Japanese soldiers who were prepared for a surprise attack, and killed them all without injury to himself.
While both O'Brien and Baker enjoyed early success in tough fighting, the worst was yet to come in what's been called "Hell Day."
In the early morning hours of July 7, 1944, the Japanese sent 4,500 crazed soldiers on a banzai attack at Baker and O'Brien's units, killing almost all of the battalion in a fierce battle that lasted hours, according military records.
With bloody hand-to-hand fighting, both Baker and O'Brien's positions began to weaken due to the shear numbers of the Japanese forces. O'Brien refused to leave the lines. After sustaining many casualties, and ammunition running low in his company, O'Brien continued to fire at the Japanese with his pistol even after he was severely wounded.
After running out of ammunition, he took over a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on a jeep, spraying gunfire all through the Japanese hordes.
He was last seen being swarmed by incoming Japanese encircling the Jeep. His body was found next to many he had killed in those last minutes. His body was flown back to the United States in 1949.
During the early stages of that attack, Baker was seriously wounded, but continued to fire upon the Japanese soldiers, sometimes as close as five yards away, until his ammunition ran out.
At this point, Baker refused to leave the lines and asked to be propped against a tree. Another comrade offered to assist, but he refused, saying he only wanted to be left alone with the last remaining eight rounds of a pistol.
When last seen alive, he was against the tree with his pistol in hand calmly facing the foe. Baker's body was found in the same position, gun empty, with eight dead Japanese lying next to him.
Baker was originally buried at the Punch Bowl Crater in Hawaii, but his body did make it back to the region in 1999, and his now buried in the Saratoga National Cemetery.
While U.S. forces had to retreat after the banzai attack, the casualties inflicted by Baker and O'Brien helped weaken the Japanese forces on Saipan, setting the stage for an eventual victory, according to various historians.
In a matter of months, U.S. air forces were easily hitting targets in Tokyo and elsewhere from Saipan. The Japanese were surrounded less than a year later.



?The Record 2005


...Take eight with you",...

...

[Jerry D]

Those are two Outstanding soldiers

[sn-e3]

Thank you for posting this Curtis your Troy boys were and are real Hero's very brave men indeed. God bless them both.

[Robert Ryan]

Two tough soldiers, showed the fighting spirit of the soldiers and marines in WWII.

[Boats]

Wow! what a story . It's hard to say anything about those conditions under those circumstances other than to say Wow!

I read that and I felt like I was there. They had gone beyond being afraid or feeling any terror. They stood their ground and took out all they could with their last ounce of strength. Those men should be recognized and I'd sure would have liked to know them before they got into the service. It's the roots of a person that under certain conditions brings out the unbelievable things they are so capable of. I salute them both - well done!