"...During the battle, Sgt. Barker’s perimeter was attacked from three sides and he was seriously wounded.
Unwilling to quit, he kept firing at the enemy until he ran out of ammunition. Wounded and unarmed, he was carried by a comrade away from the frontline. But, when he himself got injured, Thomas Baker decided not to fight for his own life anymore and risk the lives of others.
Thus he firmly insisted on being left in the field and be given a weapon.
One of the retreating soldiers gave him his pistol with eight rounds of ammo. He was last seen alive propped against a tree, pistol in his hand, with a calm look on his face. His body was later found in the same position, with emptied gun and eight more bodies of Japanese lying in front of him.
Sgt. Baker was one of three US soldiers who died that day and received Medals of Honor posthumously, for their self-sacrificing service.
In November 2009, a memorial dedicated to him and two other soldiers was uncovered in their hometown of Troy, New York.
One of them, Lieutenant William J. O’Brien was among those who died on the very same day in Saipan and were given the Medal of Honor.
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