Thomas Baker ( Medal of Honor ) Thomas Alexander Baker ( June 25 , 1916 – July 7 , 1944 ) was a United States Army soldier who received the U . S . military ' s highest decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his actions in World War II during the Battle of Saipan . Baker was born and joined the U . S . Army from Troy , New York and after graduating from Army basic training was sent to fight in World War II . While serving as a member of the 27th Infantry Division was injured and refused to be evacuated . He was later found dead with an empty pistol and the bodies of several Japanese soldiers around him . Biography . Baker was born on June 25 , 1916 , in Troy , New York and later joined the Army from that city in October 1940 . By June 19 , 1944 , was serving as a private in Company A of the 105th Infantry Regiment , 27th Infantry Division . On that day , on Saipan in the Marianas Islands , he advanced ahead of his unit with a bazooka and destroyed a Japan ese emplacement which was firing on his company . Several days later , he single - handedly attacked and killed two groups of Japanese soldiers . On July 7 , Baker ' s position came under attack by a large Japanese force . Although seriously wounded early in the attack , he refused to be evacuated and continued to fight in the close - range battle until running out of ammunition . When a comrade was wounded while trying to carry him to safety , Baker insisted that he be left behind . At his request , his comrades left him propped against a tree and gave him a pistol , which had eight bullets remaining . When American forces retook the position , they found the pistol , now empty , and eight dead Japanese soldiers around Baker ' s body . Baker was posthumously promoted to sergeant and , on May 9 , 1945 , awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions throughout the battle for Saipan . He was buried at Gerald B . H . Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville , New York . Medal of Honor citation . For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan , Mariana Islands , 19 June to 7 July 1944 . When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small - arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company , Sgt . ( then Pvt . ) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy . Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy , he knocked out the strong point , enabling his company to assault the ridge . Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy , Sgt . Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed . Without regard for such superior numbers , he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them . Five hundred yards farther , he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them . On 7 July 1944 , the perimeter of which Sgt . Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3 , 000 to 5 , 000 Japanese . During the early stages of this attack , Sgt . Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out . Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand - to - hand combat , he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade , who was then himself wounded . At this point Sgt . Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends . A short time later , at his request , he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree . Another comrade , withdrawing , offered assistance . Sgt . Baker refused , insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier ' s pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition . When last seen alive , Sgt . Baker was propped against a tree , pistol in hand , calmly facing the foe . Later Sgt . Baker ' s body was found in the same position , gun empty , with 8 Japanese lying dead before him . His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U . S . Army . Honors . In November 2009 , a memorial honoring Baker and fellow Troy natives Major General Ogden Ross and Lieutenant Colonel William J . O ' Brien was installed in the Rensselaer County office building . O ' Brien , like Baker a member of the 105th Infantry , was also posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Saipan ; he died there within hours of Baker . Ross was a former commander of the 105th Infantry and an assistant divisional commander during the Battle of Saipan . The memorial includes replicas of the Medals of Honor awarded to Baker and O ' Brien .