Rank: Specialist 4
Unit: B Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11B – Infantryman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 12-Feb-1948
Hometown: South Portland, Maine
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 28-Jun-1967
Start of tour: 29-Sep-1968
Incident date: 18-Apr-1969
Date of casualty: 18-Apr-1969
Age at death: 21
Cause of death: Hostile, Died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
James Alexander Baka was killed while gunner on a military vehicle on a combat operation when a hostile force was encountered. / Gunner on Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) on combat operation when engaged hostile force in firefight.
Nine Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SP4 James Alexander Baka
SP4 Thomas M. Fitzpatrick
2LT Daniel Michael Leahy
SP5 Roy Francis Maas
SGT Don Jay McAtee
SP4 Robert Leroy Morgan Jr
SP4 Joseph Edward Morrow Jr
SP4 Donald William Noel
SP4 Ronald Eugene Pongratz
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, XT 430 600
Place of interment: Forest City Cemetery, South Portland, Maine, USA
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