Joe Baker received the Bronze Star for valor after the war, but today, he was formally recognized by Congress for his ordeal in the Japanese copper mines. CBS
(WBZ)NORWOOD It is an honor long overdue for three former POW's from World War II. Joe Baker is one of the brave men who received his Prisoner of War Medal on Tuesday. He shared his incredible story with WBZ.
Take a good look at his face. Joe Baker has been to hell and survived. "I've seen so many guys with their arms and legs cut off without anything… just a saw."
Baker is 83 now, but he'll never forget his 19th birthday in 1943 when his submarine was crippled near Truk Island in the Pacific. "The commander got on the horn and said 'Boys, we are going to go down, but if we're going down, we're going down with a fight," said Ted Mulvehill of the Norwood Veterans Services.
Baker was taken prisoner, and for two years. He survived slave labor in a Japanese copper mine -- existing on water and leaves and occasional rotting horse flesh. "It was terrible where we were. They were brutal."
The conditions were bad enough. It was literally hell on Earth, but then came the beatings. "They beat us with baseball bats… I have scars all over my body… They burned us."
Baker received the Bronze Star for valor after the war, but today, he was formally recognized by Congress for his ordeal in the Japanese copper mines.
Susan Perry's father died two years ago. He survived a Nazi prison. Daivd Moir received his medal posthumously. "Obviously it was a horrible time for him," said Susan. "He didn't receive the medal -- probably didn't even think about it. I don't think that generation did."
So how did Joe Baker live thru hell? "Couldn't give up," he said. "If you gave up, you were dead, and that's why a lot of guys died in prison camps."
It's sad to think that so few of his kind are still alive.
The third recipient of the POW medal was Michael Thornton of Norwood. He was taken prisoner in Italy, but managed to escape while being marched to Germany. Thornton eluded the Nazis by hiding in haystacks.
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