Citation
For extraordinary heroism in action on 5 and 6 April 1945, near Viareggio, Italy. Then Second Lieutenant Baker demonstrated outstanding courage and leadership in destroying enemy installations, personnel and equipment during his company’s attack against a strongly entrenched enemy in mountainous terrain. When his company was stopped by the concentration of fire from several machine gun emplacements, he crawled to one position and destroyed it, killing three Germans. Continuing forward, he attacked and enemy observation post and killed two occupants. With the aid of one of his men, Lieutenant Baker attacked two more machine gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy soldiers occupying these positions. He then covered the evacuation of the wounded personnel of his company by occupying an exposed position and drawing the enemy’s fire. On the following night Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the division objective. Second Lieutenant Baker’s fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Vernon Baker was born on December 17, 1919, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the youngest of three children. After his parents died in a car accident when he was four, he and his two sisters were raised by their grandparents. His grandfather Joseph S. Baker, a railroad worker in Cheyenne, taught him to hunt in order to feed the family and became “the most influential figure in Vernon’s life.” His relationship with his grandmother was much more strained, and he spent a few years at the Boys Town orphanage in Nebraska to be away from her.

Lieutenant Baker graduated from high school in his grandfather’s hometown of Clarinda, Iowa. He then worked as a railroad porter, a job he despised, until his grandfather’s death from cancer in 1939. A series of menial jobs followed until his enlistment in the U.S. Army in mid-1941. At his first attempt to enlist, in April 1941, he was turned away, the recruiter stating “We don’t have any quotas for you people.” He tried again weeks later with a different recruiter and was accepted; he requested to become a quartermaster but was instead assigned to infantry.

Lieutenant Baker entered the Army on June 26, 1941, six months prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. He went through training at Camp Wolters, Texas, and after completing Officer Candidate School was commissioned as a second lieutenant on January 11, 1943.

In June 1944, Lieutenant Baker was sent to Italy with the all-black 92nd Infantry Division. He was wounded in the arm in October of that year, hospitalized near Pisa, and in December rejoined his unit in reserve along the Gothic Line. In early spring, 1945, his unit was pulled from the reserves and placed in active combat. On the morning of April 5, he participated in an attack on the German stronghold of Castle Aghinolfi. During the assault, Lieutenant Baker led his heavy weapons platoon through German defenses to within sight of the castle, personally destroying three machine gun nests, two observation posts, two bunkers, and a network of German telephone lines along the way. It was for these actions that he was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

After the end of the war, Lieutenant Baker remained in Europe with the Allied occupation forces until 1947. He later joined the Army Airborne forces and left the military in 1968 as a first lieutenant.

JOHN WILLIAM FINN 1909 – 2010 American Superhero

Citation
For extraordinary heroism distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lt. Finn promptly secured and manned a .50-caliber machine-gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machine-gun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own personal safety. It was only by specific orders that he was persuaded to leave his post to seek medical attention. Following first aid treatment, although obviously suffering much pain and moving with great difficulty, he returned to the squadron area and actively supervised the rearming of returning planes. His extraordinary heroism and conduct in this action were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

John W. Finn dropped out of school after the seventh grade and worked at various jobs until a few days before his seventeenth birthday, when he joined the Navy. It was 1926, and the world seemed permanently at peace, without even a rumor of war. What Finn wanted was to travel. Over the next few years, he got his wish, serving on a variety of ships that took him up through the Panama Canal and six hundred miles up the Yangtze River.

In December 1941, he was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Kanoehe Bay, Hawaii. He had moved rapidly through the ranks during his years in the Navy and was now a chief petty officer in charge of a twenty-man ordnance crew whose primary duty was maintaining the weapons of a squadron of PBY naval patrol planes. On the morning of December 7, he and his wife were in their quarters about a mile from the aircraft hangars when he was awakened by a popping noise. His first irritated thought was that some fool had decided to do gunnery practice on a Sunday morning. Then he heard planes passing overhead and shouting in the street, followed by a loud knock on his door. It was the wife
of one of his men. When he asked her what was wrong, she just pointed up in the air and ran off.
Still not aware of what was causing all the confusion, Finn jumped in his car and headed for the hangars. He was observing the base’s strictly enforced speed limit of twenty miles an hour until a fighter plane came roaring down out of the sky above him. He watched it with curiosity for a moment until he saw the “red meatball” of the Japanese insignia, then rammed the car into second gear and stomped on the accelerator.
He came to a skidding stop at the launching ramps where the amphibious patrol planes were towed back and forth between the water and their hangars and found total chaos. Most of the thirty-six PBYs were already on fire. (Only three would be left at the end of the day because they happened to be on antisubmarine patrol when the Japanese attacked.) Some of his men were inside the burning planes trying to fire at the enemy from the PBYs’ machine guns. Others were struggling to get the guns out of the damaged planes; there were no stationary gun mounts to hold them, and the sailors were trying to improvise using pipe from the machine shop and other materials.
Finn found a mobile instruction stand on which guns were sometimes mounted to teach gunnery. Although enemy planes continued to strafe the position, he moved the stand into a parking area where he would have clear visibility. Then he set a .50-caliber machine gun on it and began to shoot. He held his position for the next two hours. The Japanese fighters went by too quickly to track with the gun. He did hit some of the slower-moving bombers, although they quickly disappeared over the tree line so he could not know if any crashed. He did not stop firing until all the enemy planes had gone and it was quiet again.
Finn had been hit by shrapnel in twenty-one places; several were serious wounds. His left arm was numb, and a bullet had passed through one foot. Following medical treatment, he returned to the squadron area and supervised the rearming of the remaining American planes.
Nine months later, Finn was awaiting sea duty when he was informed that he was to receive the Medal of Honor. It was presented to him on Sept. 14, 1942, on board the USS Enterprise in Pearl Harbor by Admiral Chester Nimitz.

GEORGE EDWARD WAHLEN 1924 – 2009 American Superhero

Citation
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 2d Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano group on 3 March 1945. Painfully wounded in the bitter action on 26 February, Wahlen remained on the battlefield, advancing well forward of the frontlines to aid a wounded marine and carrying him back to safety despite a terrific concentration of fire. Tireless in his ministrations, he consistently disregarded all danger to attend his fighting comrades as they fell under the devastating rain of shrapnel and bullets, and rendered prompt assistance to various elements of his combat group as required. When an adjacent platoon suffered heavy casualties, he defied the continuous pounding of heavy mortars and deadly fire of enemy rifles to care for the wounded, working rapidly in an area swept by constant fire and treating 14 casualties before returning to his own platoon. Wounded again on 2 March, he gallantly refused evacuation, moving out with his company the following day in a furious assault across 600 yards of open terrain and repeatedly rendering medical aid while exposed to the blasting fury of powerful Japanese guns. Stouthearted and indomitable, he persevered in his determined efforts as his unit waged fierce battle and, unable to walk after sustaining a third agonizing wound, resolutely crawled 50 yards to administer first aid to still another fallen fighter. By his dauntless fortitude and valor, Wahlen served as a constant inspiration and contributed vitally to the high morale of his company during critical phases of this strategically important engagement. His heroic spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of overwhelming enemy fire upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

George Edward Wahlen married his eternal companion and best friend, Melba Holley of Slaterville, Utah on August 16, 1946. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. She is the love of his life and they shared 63 wonderful years together and have supported each other throughout their lives.

He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where he has served in many capacities including, Home Teacher, Counselor in the bishopric, and High Priest Group Leader.

He attended Weber High School and entered the U.S. Navy June 1943 where he entered medical training and was assigned as a medical corpsman to the 5Th Marine Division and served with Fox Company on the island of Iwo Jima. It was on Iwo Jima where he was wounded on three separate occasions and was transported to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, California where he endured 10 months of recovery. On October 3, 1945 he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman and later discharged from the Navy.

He received an Associates Degree from Weber State College and then entered the U.S. Army where he served in various capacities in the medical field for 20 years including a tour of duty in Korea and Vietnam. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Church College of Hawaii. In 1969 he retired from the Armed Forces and was employed by the Veteran’s Administration for 12 years. At this time he completed 2 years of graduate study at the University of Utah.

His personal awards include: The Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal, three Purple Hearts, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with one star and the Vietnam Service Medal with four campaign stars, the Direct Service to Public Award from the Central Office of the Veterans Administration in Washington D.C. and the Weber State College Presidential Citation for service to the veteran students and many other recognitions.

Surviving are his wife, Melba Wahlen, five children and their spouses, Jolene (Alan) Rogers, Christine (Blake) Anderson, Pam (Jim) Riley, Blake (Jana) Wahlen, Brock (Pam) Wahlen, 26 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, twin brothers, and three grandchildren.

The thing he treasured the most was time with his family by sharing monthly family nights, yearly vacations, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners and New Year’s Eve parties with the entire family. He loved being involved with all his grandchildren’s various activities and made each one feel as if they were his “favorite.”

Another passion of his was working for veterans and their rights. He played a vital role by lobbying for the Veteran’s Cemetery at Camp Williams, and two nursing homes. He belonged to many organizations associated with the veterans.