Vietnam-Era Veteran Served as First Female Maryland Legion Commander

By Yvonne Johnson, APG News

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md.-- A life of service Carolynn Baker has spent nearly every moment of her life in the military. The Bel Air resident and self-described “Air Force brat” is the daughter of a World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veteran; one grandfather was a retired Navy chief petty officer and the other worked on the Army Air Forces’ secret atomic bomb mission. Her brother is a Vietnam veteran and she, a Vietnam-era veteran, joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) right after high school.

In recent years, Baker has served as the secretary of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter #588. A former president of the chapter, she’s held an office off and on since 1998.

She also is a member and former president of American Legion Post #39 in Bel Air where she’s held an office every year since 1998.

In 2014, Baker was elected as the Commander of the American Legion Department of Maryland. She is the first female elected to the position in its 96-year history.

“It’s a phenomenal honor,” Baker said. Her responsibilities included representing about 63,000 legionnaires at official ceremonies and pushing the legion agenda that focuses on military benefits.

“A lot of my time will be spent as a representative or spokesperson to let people know the legion’s stand on certain issues,” she said.

During her time as commander, Baker put thousands of miles on her car traveling to local and state meetings as far away as Charlotte, North Carolina. She traveled around the state where her presence was requested for events and ceremonies.

Baker says her military roots have always guided her life.

She graduated high school in San Antonio, Texas and joined the WAC the same year. The Vietnam War was in full swing and Baker said she didn’t realize how divided the country was until she left the service only 18 months later after getting married.

She soon learned that veterans were not being “very well received” back into society when she ran into an old high school friend who was “seriously anti-war.”

“When she found out I’d been in the Army she stopped speaking to me,” Baker said. “We lived in the same apartment house and she never spoke to me again.

During those years, the nation was so divided. You were either for the military or against it. Still, I was totally shocked that people could feel that way.” The VVA is near and dear to her heart for that very reason, she said.

“The VVA motto is that never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.

“That’s directed at American Legions and Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations because when Vietnam veterans came home, not only did the country not support them, the VFWs and Legions didn’t welcome them either. So, we are resolved that this never happens to another generation of veterans.”

Baker acknowledged that the VVA membership is aging and that many who send in their dues are no longer physically able to make meetings.

“We are a last-man-standing organization,” she said. “This means the last veteran standing will turn off the lights and shut down the organization.”

“In the meantime,” she added, “we will accomplish the mission of ensuring that every generation is honored. Never again will they be called names or spit on. If you look around, the Soldiers of today are being welcomed home and that’s because of the efforts of Vietnam veterans.

“The country is finally apologizing for the way they treated our veterans,” she added. “Fifty years later they still remember and it still stings so our objective, as long as we’re able, is to see that nobody ever goes through that again.”

In her late sixties, Baker said her love for her country endures and motivates her to stay not only active, but useful.

She retired from Franklin Square Hospital, where she was a hospital supervisor, and from the Harford County Health Department. Her late husband was a lieutenant with the Harford County Sheriff Department.

Baker proudly declares that she gained all of her education through the military GI Bill and she never overlooks the chance to declare her patriotism.

“My father brought me up that way,” she said. “Even at the height of the antiwar period I never had mixed feelings. I never for a moment questioned my love for my country. I do this for my son and my two granddaughters. I was born and raised military. For me, it’s a way of life.”

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Like any other war, Vietnam produced an array of veterans. When the conflict ended, some veterans opted to continue service in the military while others returned to civilian life. Some returned with life altering wounds - physical and psychological - while too many others, who never came home at all, remain among the Missing in Action.

On the surface, the veterans of the Vietnam War faced the same challenges as veterans of other wars, except for one glaring difference: they were vilified by American society like no other generation before or since.

Today, nearly 50 years after the war's end, the veterans of Vietnam are in their 60s and 70s. The passage of time has cooled the tempest of indignation that shrouded their homecoming and an ambiance of repentant thanks thrives in its wake. Many still do what they can to serve this nation.

This article originally appeared in the "APG News" as part of an ongoing, multi-year series hailing the service members and civilians who served the nation during the war in Vietnam. Giving a voice to local Vietnam veterans, it is through their stories that we honor their service and sacrifice, and offer a long-overdue "Welcome Home."

The "APG News" is the weekly newspaper produced at Aberdeen Proving Ground, an Army installation located in southern Harford County, Maryland, nearly midway between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. APG is recognized as one of the world's most important research and development, testing and evaluation facilities for military weapons and equipment, and supports the finest teams of military and civilian scientists, research engineers, technicians and administrators.

For more information about the series or the veterans featured, contact "APG News" Editor Amanda Rominiecki at amanda.r.rominiecki.civ@mail.mil.