Today's Medal of Honor belongs to Sergeant Thomas Baker, who was killed in action on Saipan.
The Pacific Theater was brutal, and Saipan especially was a hard fight. The Japanese soldiers largely refused to surrender because they had been led to believe that the Americans would torture and kill them. (Sort of like they did with their own prisoners, but I won't get into that here)
As the battle went on, it became clear to the Japanese commanders that they were in a hopeless fight, and Saipan was lost. But instead of surrendering or evacuating, all the surviving troops (including the wounded, and even some civilians) charged the American lines at dawn on July 7th. Over 4,000 men attacked, in the largest banzai charge of the war, and poor Sergeant Evans was right in the middle of it.
He had already distinguished himself during the battle by destroying a machine gun emplacement with a bazooka, and eliminating an enemy squad that had concealed themselves behind the American front line.
But back to the suicide attack. Baker was wounded early into the fight, but refused to go back to an aid station. For a while, the soldiers and marines were able to hold back the advancing troops for a while, but were eventually forced to fall back, since they were taking casualties and running out of ammo. Another soldier carried Evans back about 50 yards before he was also wounded. At this point, Evans told his comrades to leave him behind, since he didn't want to risk more lives to save his own. His only request was that they prop him up against a tree, facing the advancing Japanese troops. They gave him a pistol with 8 rounds, and wished him luck. (I can only assume it was an M1911, and I would LOVE to get my hands on one of those some day)
Once American troops were able to regroup and counterattack, they found Baker's body in the same place. Weapon empty, with eight dead Japanese soldiers in front of him. His promotion to Sergeant was actually posthumous, as was the MoH, obviously.
This one is near and dear to my heart. I had a great uncle who was killed on Saipan on the same day, during the same attack. He was an artilleryman with the Marines, and according to my grandfather, he was an absolutely wonderful human being. 60 years later he would still tell people how much he loved and looked up to his big brother. He actually named his first son after him. I really wish I could have had the opportunity to meet him myself.
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