This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Baker, David Earle, Brig Gen USAF(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town West Stewartstown, New Hampshire
Last Address Mitchellville, Maryland
Date of Passing Jan 29, 2009
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Gen. Baker was deployed to South Vietnam in January 1972 and was captured that June after his aircraft was shot down. He spent the next eight months as a prisoner of the Viet Cong in Cambodia. During captivity he tried to escape but he was shot and recaptured. In February 1973, one month after a peace treaty was signed between the North and South Vietnamese, he was released. According to the Air Force, he was the only Air force prisoner to be repatriated from Cambodia, after the war ended.
In April 1973, he told the Associated Press that during captivity he was paraded past Cambodian villagers who beat and threatened him. He was denied medical treatment for a bullet wound in his leg. He said that because he would not make antiwar statements he was given rice only and pork fat to eat.
After the war he was a pilot instructor and later a fighter pilot in the Netherlands.
Source: The Washington Post Obituaries, February 15, 2009.
1994-1997 Served as support staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
