“On the night of 20 Dec 1970 while serving with SEAL Team One X-ray Platoon in Kien Hoa Province his five man squad was ambushed shortly after insertion. Two members were instantly killed and the other two were so seriously injured as to be unable to return fire. At the initiation of the ambush, the blast from an RPG killed the SEAL in front of Petty Officer Baker and blew them both into the river. With his M-60 MG and 500 rounds weighing him down, Petty Officer Baker managed to keep his head barely above the water and free himself from his fatally injured teammate whose equipment had become entangled with his own. Petty officer Baker, through sheer determination, pulled himself and the body of his comrade back onto the bank and returned a heavy volume of AW weapons at the enemy that continued firing on his position. A quick assessment indicated the patrol leader and the A-W man were dead, the radioman critically wounded and the Vietnamese guide was missing. With the radio shattered, the only means of signaling for extraction was a red flare. Petty Officer Baker realized the illumination from the flare would expose the squad to the enemy. While keeping the enemy under fire, he assisted his wounded radioman back to the river and swam out toward the middle. Petty Officer Baker struggled to keep himself and his wounded comrade on the surface of the fast moving river as both their lifejackets were rendered useless from the ambush. When they reached a point approximately 50 yards from the bank, Petty Officer Baker directed the radioman to move downstream because he was going to illuminate a flare to signal the boat and he realized that in so doing, he would fully expose himself to the enemy. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Petty Officer signaled the boat by holding the illuminated red flare above his head. The crew of the MSSC, immediately upon spotting the signal, provided protective cover fire for the two men in the water and raced to pick them up. Petty Officer Baker immediately rendered first aid to the wounded radioman and directed the MSSC to head back into the bank to pick up the remainder of the squad. The crews spotted a blinking light on the bank in the area of the ambush and while they moved in cautiously to investigate the source, Petty Officer Baker once again exposed himself to the enemy as he manned the 50-caliber machine gun and provided protective fire for the MSSC. As they picked up the wounded VN guide, he confirmed that the patrol leader was dead. When the initial fire fight erupted, the MSSC boat Commander radioed for air cover and MEDEVAC assistance. While this assistance was en route, Petty Officer Baker directed the MSSC to proceed downstream to a friendly outpost where the MEDEVAC could be accomplished. At the same time, he rendered first aid and applied a tourniquet to the wounded VN guide who was bleeding profusely and was near death. Shortly, the MEDEVAC was completed under the direction of Petty Officer Baker. At this point, 15 SEALs who had been monitoring the radio traffic, arrived at the outpost and under cover of air support, Petty Officer Baker led them back to the ambush site and directed recovery of his dead comrades and their equipment. As they extracted from the area, Petty officer Baker continued his action against the enemy by directing air strikes against their position. Petty Officer Baker, throughout the aforementioned action, repeatedly exposed himself to withering enemy fire while displaying extraordinary courage. Although two of his comrades were killed in the action, his cool judgment and heroic actions in the face of overwhelming odds were directly responsible for saving the lives of his two comrades and denying the enemy a total victory.”