Elmo C. Baker

Mo Baker enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on June 23, 1952, and was trained as an aircraft mechanic before entering the Aviation Cadet Program on February 1, 1953. Baker was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings at Laredo AFB, Texas, on April 28, 1954, and after completing the All-Weather Interceptor Course, he served as an F-89 Scorpion pilot with the 449th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Ladd AFB, Alaska. His next assignment was flying F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart fighters with the 48th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Langley AFB, Virginia, from July 1956 to September 1964, during which time he flew 20 combat air patrol missions near Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He began flying combat missions in Southeast Asia with the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, in May 1967. On August 23, 1967 Major Mo Baker, after flying sixty-one missions over North Vietnam, was shot out of the sky over Hanoi by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Forced to eject, he was taken as a Prisoner of War.