BAIRD, WILLIAM ALLEN Deceased
Name: William Allen Baird Rank/Branch: United States Army/E4 Unit: 23 INF DIV Date of Birth: 07 June 1949 Home City of Record: Wooster OH Date of Loss: 06 May 1968 Country of Loss: South Vietnam/North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 163033 North 1073143 Status (in 1973): Returnee Category: Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Missions: Other Personnel in Incident: Refno: 1163
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action Combat Casualty File.
REMARKS: 730305 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED
Resides Ohio ------------------------------- EDITED from the original
The Plain Dealer Cleveland, OH Wednesday, May 13, 1998
CLASSROOM GRIPPED BY POW STORIES 'BARBED WIRE HISTORY' CAPTIVATING FOR STUDENTS, HEALING FOR VETERANS BRIAN E. ALBRECHT PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
In this class, you will come to know torture and starvation, humiliation and degradation, a bullet to the back of the head, your husband's hands wrapped around your throat at night, the rare kindness of sworn enemies, and the triumph of the human spirit.
Just wave the white flag and step into "Barbed Wire History: The POW Experience," a one-time course currently being taught by James Banks, history professor at the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Parma.
The course links 25 students with former prisoners of war who provide both personal testimony for the class and a video testament for future generations.
The effort originated when the Barbed Wire Buckeyes, a group of Ohio ex-POWs, contacted Banks about erecting a memorial to America's prisoners of war at CCC, the site of a military hospital during World War II. Banks has been involved in previous courses and documentaries dealing with military history, and creation of the Veterans Memorial Gardens on the Parma campus.
Banks said the POW memorial, which will be dedicated Sunday, got him thinking, "My God, when you think of what they did, we really are looking at the heroes of Little Round Top, only in the 20th century. We should do something to make that historical experience live through others." That's when the idea for a class took hold.
Pairing students with POWs was an additional benefit, Banks said, explaining, "History becomes more valuable when it touches other generations."
Before a single interview was conducted, students were briefed by Cissie Clower, a psychologist and coordinator of the Senior Veterans Program, Center for Stress Recovery at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Brecksville.
"Basically I wanted to give them some advice on how they might talk with some sensitivity to these men about their experiences," said Clower, who counsels veterans and former POWs.
"What the [CCC] course is doing in terms of applauding these POWs, and validating them for what they did, is very healing for these men."
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Student's hardships pale
Bill Baird remembers the mine that shredded his legs and back in Vietnam. He remembers his captors shooting him in the head to keep him from trying to escape.
Baird, 48, of Fredericksburg, Ohio, remembers five years of prison camps, the dysentery, wormy food, nonstop propaganda broadcasts and more.
And now, CCC student Joe Toth, 20, of Strongsville, can remember, too.
"The biggest thing I've come to realize is that any kind of hardship I've ever had in my life just pales in comparison to what this man went through," Toth said.
"But he also is saying that all this stuff can happen, and you can still move forward in your life and be a better person because of it," he added. "It gives me a lot of enthusiasm for life."
To Baird, whose injuries from the land mine left him partially paralyzed from the waist down, it was sheer determination. "I just got it in my head that no matter if it's five years or 10, I will make it. And if I make it through this, I can make it through anything."
=================== Americal Division magazine 11/2002 SSG William A. Baird Prisoner of War
William A. (Bill) Baird passed away on July 30, 2002 in Fredericksburg, OH. Baird served in Vietnam with Co. A, 3/21st Inf., 196th LIB. He was taken prisoner of war in 1968 and held in captivity until 1973.
ADVA member Larry Watson, Wooster, OH, obtained a personal account of Bill Baird's ordeal. Larry remembers, "The last time I saw Bill was at a 4th of July parade. I was marching in a color guard with our local VVA chapter. Bill was carrying a POW/MIA flag in his motorized wheelchair." Bill suffered the loss of his wife Kathy earlier in 2002. Our condolences to the Baird family and friends. May he rest in peace.
William A. (Bill) Baird was born on June 7, 1949. He enlisted in the United States Army on August 15, 1967 in Cleveland, OH. He underwent basic training at Ft. Knox, KY and advanced training at Ft. Polk, LA. He departed for Vietnam from Ft. Lewis, WA on January 2, 1968.
Baird was assigned as an infantryman with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division. He took part in patrols, search and destroy missions, guard duty, and fought in the Tet Offensive in March 1968.
About 3:00 PM on the afternoon of May 6, 1968, thirty men of Baird's company went out on patrol. They were close to the de-militarized zone on the border of North Vietnam. Bill was pointman and a good 20 feet ahead of the rest of the men. They had no idea they were walking into an ambush. While walking on top of a dike in a rice paddy, Bill stepped on a land mine. The explosion not only rendered him unconscious, it also alerted the Viet Cong and a firefight broke out.
Three hours later Baird regained consciousness and heard the action going on. Men were yelling, screaming, and shooting. An artillery barrage was going on and planes were overhead. Bill began to take stock of where he was and realized he must have stepped on a mine. There was no one near to help him. He tried to stand up but discovered he had no feeling from the waist down and through his efforts he passed out again.
As darkness approached things quieted down but Bill suffered the trauma of being wounded and left alone. Eventually he heard the voices of Vietnamese approaching. He had no idea if they were friendly or not. Then as they came upon him he heard, "Chu Hoi"', surrender or die.
The Vietnamese surrounded Baird and when he told them he was injured they did not believe him. They told him, "Americans are sneaky, lie, and can not be trusted." Several times they tried to make him stand but he could not. He then felt a sharp pain and a ringing in his head and discovered that they had shot him. Fortunately the bullet hit no vital point, entering his neck and exiting out his ear.
Finally convinced that Baird could not walk, the Vietnamese made a makeshift stretcher and drug him along with them. After dragging him for three or four hours they stopped and gave him a bowl of rice. Traveling to the north they proceeded to show him off at all the villages they passed through and the people would kick and spit at him. This went on for most of a month.
Since there were no formal names for prison camps or locations, the American prisoners gave the camps names that suited them. The first organized camp that Bill was taken to was called "Port Holes" because the cement building had one door, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and round windows around the walls like port holes on a ship.
Bill remained here for a month and then was moved on to a camp known as D-1. Not knowing where he was geographically, he thought he might be close to the South China Sea because he was often given fish. It was here that he saw his first American. He was a Green Beret and a dentist but he didn't seem to want anything to do with Baird and did nothing to help him. After two months Baird was moved by truck to another place that he called the "Rock Pile". There were huge piles of rocks and debris that he thought might have been from bombings. This was only a stopover and after a month he was moved to the "Plantation Gardens."
Some prisoners called this prison the "Chicken House" or "The Farm". Prisoners were housed in three buildings in a row, like chicken houses, on one side of the plantation. The large mansion housed the Viet Cong officers and their offices. Prisoners would be taken to the "Big House" for interrogation, brain washing, or punishment. Bill thinks he was not beaten as much as others because he became a showpiece for any dignitaries who came through. For this reason they allowed him to live. He remained at the "Plantation Gardens" for four years before moving to the famous "Hanoi Hilton" in January 1973.
After being tortured, starved, and kept in isolation most of his captivity, Baird was moved from the "Hanoi Hilton" to a large building similar to a large airplane hangar. Located here were between two and three hundred Americans, many of them pilots. Seeing someone who you had been with two or three years earlier and had believed had been executed was indeed a surprise. All of the activity, talking, and carrying on was upsetting to the guards who could not understand the Americans.
While at the "Hanoi Hilton" the prisoners were told of the American actress Jane Fonda who had come to Vietnam as a friend of the Communists. This was played up with those collaborators who made up the Peace Committee.
The prisoners knew of the negotiations between the two governments and rumors about being liberated were strong. Food became a little more plentiful and fluctuated from the earlier diet of one bowl of rice and a cup of water to three or four bowls of rice a day. It was rare to have any meat but now they were given bread, which they had never had.
On March 7, 1973 the Viet Cong told them to prepare to move. They had done this many times, taking their few possessions, but this time they were allowed only what they wore. They were told of the negotiations at the Paris Peace Talks and that they were going home.
During his five years of captivity malaria, dysentery, worms, and malnutrition caused Bill to lose between 30 and 40 pounds. He departed for the United States in March 1973 from Hanoi, North Vietnam by C-141 aircraft, arriving at Clark Air Force Base, Philippines. He spent time at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and spent six months at the Army hospital at Phonixville, Pennsylvania. He was discharged from Phonixville Medical Center on September 27, 1973.
For his service, Bill was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal, Overseas Medal, Purple Heart, and Prisoner of War Medal.