Vietnam Navy veteran Tommy Baxter got his air medal after many years. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

HOLLY LAKE RANCH – Retired educator Tommy Baxter volunteered to serve during the Vietnam War and willingly risked it all, without complaint, to fulfill his duty to the country.

But when flawed record-keeping essentially erased his contributions from history, the veteran decided to fight for what he earned, spending years caught up in red tape.

Baxter finally received his Air Medal last week during a special ceremony at Holly Lake Ranch.

U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, whose office helped resolve the snafu, presented the award and an American flag that flew over the nation’s capital.

“This wasn’t so much about a search for a medal, but a battle for bureaucracy and we won,” Baxter said afterward. “This is really more common than people know.”

The story of the forgotten valor could stem from the nature of Baxter’s service.

He served the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1971 in a non-conventional role – a foreign language specialist attached to the Naval Security Group, whose specialty was gathering intelligence on enemy activities.

“The section we were responsible for was communications intelligence,” he said. “We had no normal duty station, but were sent wherever our skills and training were needed.”

The assignment amounted to constant change, participating in missions as needed.

Baxter learned several languages, including Vietnamese, and trained in air operations conducted by the North Vietnamese Air Force.

Some of his deployment was on two different ships off the coast of Haiphong Harbour, before being deployed to Danang Air Force Base in South Vietnam.

“While there, I was a member of the ‘Big Look Spooks,'” he said. “We flew in three different types of aircraft mostly off the coast of North Vietnam; occasionally, over the Laos and Cambodia border.”

His role was to keep an eye on the enemy, which meant participating in bombing missions and recognizance flights for tactical and strategic purposes.

“Tactical was to give early warning to our fighters and bombers and to assist in any necessary rescue missions if the need arose,” he said. “Strategic was to keep up with their aerial tactics and asserts.”

He flew 491.7 hours of missions while assigned to Det. Bravo of squadron VQ-1 at Danang AFB in support of air operations, including a dangerous November 1970 raid on a prisoner of war compound at Son Tay North Vietnam, records show.

“It was a 2 a.m. takeoff,” he said, recalling the surreal experience of watching Operation Ivory Coast unfold from the back seat of a plane, amid blasts of enemy fire.

Baxter’s performance earned him an Air Medal, which is generally awarded for exemplary and heroic work during aerial operations.

He was approved for the honor on Jan. 17, 1971, but it never came.

Years passed and Baxter started making inquiries.

There were few answers, but plenty of omissions on his DD Form 214 separation papers, which provide an overview of duties carried out by military personnel.

“I checked in the 1970s, and it still wasn’t on there,” Baxter said. “When I retired in 2004, at least I wanted to get my DD 214 corrected … I started trying to track it down.”

Staffers with the National Archives said there was no record indicating he was due a medal.

Baxter eventually reached out to Gohmert’s office and enlisted a little help from his old service buddies and former superiors.

Slowly, a profile began to emerge – Baxter earned and was entitled to receive an Air Medal, and official records proved it.

The problem was finding the right person to connect the dots and give the former Navy man his reward for a job well done.

It took two years to right the wrong, but the call Baxter waited for all those years finally arrived.

“In August, she (Congressional assistant Lisa Blackmon) gave me a call and said, ‘You’re not going to believe what’s sitting on my desk.’ It was my medal,” he said, expressing gratitude to those who supported him.

Baxter said it’s distressing to hear stories about incomplete and missing service records, and he encourages other veterans who face similar battles to not give up the fight.

His wife, Elaine, agrees.

“It was really nice to see him get the metal because he earned it,” she said. “I still get new stories out of him from time to time. I want him to write them down, and maybe he will someday. He’s had some interesting experiences.”

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