thedrifter
02-16-07, 03:28 PM
Marine from Pacific gets posthumous Bronze Star
By Aisha Sultan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/16/2007
PACIFIC -- Marine Cpl. Riley Baker's parents repeatedly said their son would have hated being singled out as a hero at the special ceremony held this morning in which he was awarded the Bronze Star, six months after he was killed in Iraq.
“They all did it together....They all earned it,” said his father, Grier Baker, a Marine veteran.
Indeed, the bond among Marines who served with Baker on a scout sniper team was evident at the ceremony at Eureka Fire Protection District Training Center.
Men from Baker's former unit, now based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., decided to drive 15 hours to the event as soon as they heard about it.
“We didn't get a chance to grieve with the family,” Sgt. Derrick Doyle said. Baker was killed by a roadside bomb last June. His team was still in Iraq after he was killed, so they missed the funeral.
Doyle said the Marines visited Eureka High School, where Baker had been a wrestling and football star. They felt his presence everywhere in his hometown, Doyle said.
“We are honored to see where he was raised.”
The Bronze Star was awarded for “heroic achievement in connection with combat operations,” according to the citation accompanying it. It noted that Baker was the leader of a sniper team that killed five insurgents and wounded two.
“His precision shooting eliminated an insurgent emplacing an improvised explosive device along a key road...,” the citation said.
A few hundred people attended the brief ceremony, lingering afterward to hug Baker's family, take pictures of the Marines in dress uniform and remember the man their community had lost.
Ellie
By Aisha Sultan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/16/2007
PACIFIC -- Marine Cpl. Riley Baker's parents repeatedly said their son would have hated being singled out as a hero at the special ceremony held this morning in which he was awarded the Bronze Star, six months after he was killed in Iraq.
“They all did it together....They all earned it,” said his father, Grier Baker, a Marine veteran.
Indeed, the bond among Marines who served with Baker on a scout sniper team was evident at the ceremony at Eureka Fire Protection District Training Center.
Men from Baker's former unit, now based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., decided to drive 15 hours to the event as soon as they heard about it.
“We didn't get a chance to grieve with the family,” Sgt. Derrick Doyle said. Baker was killed by a roadside bomb last June. His team was still in Iraq after he was killed, so they missed the funeral.
Doyle said the Marines visited Eureka High School, where Baker had been a wrestling and football star. They felt his presence everywhere in his hometown, Doyle said.
“We are honored to see where he was raised.”
The Bronze Star was awarded for “heroic achievement in connection with combat operations,” according to the citation accompanying it. It noted that Baker was the leader of a sniper team that killed five insurgents and wounded two.
“His precision shooting eliminated an insurgent emplacing an improvised explosive device along a key road...,” the citation said.
A few hundred people attended the brief ceremony, lingering afterward to hug Baker's family, take pictures of the Marines in dress uniform and remember the man their community had lost.
Ellie