Barry Baron: Fulfilled His Dream As a Paratrooper

By Frank Hauenschild, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Barry Baron was born to Howard Baron and Evelyn Baron and started his life in Kankakee, Illinois. He lost his mother, Evelyn, when he was 10 years old.  After a couple of years, his father remarried and along with Barry and his sister, they moved to Bradley, Illinois, just outside of Kankakee. Describing his younger days in grammar and high school, he was known as a “cantankerous kid.” Barry graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1967. 

Looking for “structure” in his life, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army and he specifically had set his sights on being a paratrooper.  Upon signing up at the local recruiting office and securing an Army guarantee that he would have the opportunity to become an Army paratrooper, Barry boarded a train to Chicago and was sworn in on July 11, 1967.

Arriving by bus at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri, he completed his Basic Training and then received his advanced infantry training at Ft. Gordon, Georgia.  Completing his advanced training, and the Army fulfilling Barry’s enlistment desires, he began his preparatory Airborne training at Camp Crockett, which was located within Ft. Gordon. Barry related that he was in good physical shape from being a high school athlete, “But that was the most intense training I have ever experienced in my life.”  Barry described his preparatory training as eight weeks of getting up early, calisthenics, running and jumping. “Wherever we went in Camp Crockett, we ran there!”

Leaving Camp Crockett, it was off to jump school at Ft. Benning, Georgia.  Jump school consisted of three weeks of training for Barry.  The first week was ground instruction, then a week of tower training and finally a week for five live jumps from a plane. Successfully completing jump school, Barry was officially a U.S. Army Paratrooper!

While completing his Airborne training with high marks, Barry qualified as a candidate for Special Forces.  It wasn’t long in his Phase One training that Barry realized that this wasn’t going to be his “cup of tea.” Barry related that he wanted some action and knew it was not going to happen being Special Forces. “I made up my mind and I wanted to go to Vietnam before the War was over.”

The first step in leaving Special Forces was a visit to his Company Commander.  From there, Barry was set to see the First Sergeant. At that meeting, he met the pent-up wrath of the First Sergeant. The meeting, Barry related, started calmly by being asked why he wanted to leave Special Forces training. Barry informed his First Sergeant of his desire to serve in Vietnam and that the Special Forces were not going to satisfy his desire to experience combat.  With that, the calm meeting ended with the First Sergeant jumping up to his feet behind his desk, enraged by Barry’s comment, screamed that Barry was “too scared to stay in Special Forces training.” Taking this rant to its completion, the First Sergeant dismissed Barry with his final words, “Get out of here, we don’t need guys like you here!”  

Returning to his barracks while waiting for his orders for Vietnam, he struck up a conversation with an Army medic named McCabe. McCabe was in the Army for the long haul and had already served two tours in Vietnam.  Knowing Barry’s plan of being sent overseas, McCabe gave him two pieces of advice for surviving in Vietnam. First, “don’t volunteer for anything” and secondly, “stay in the shade.”  Upon receiving his orders, Barry had a thirty-day leave before his deployment to Vietnam. 

Following his leave, Barry reported to Ft. Lewis, WA for his flight to Vietnam where he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.  Arriving in Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, he and eighteen other troops were informed that there was a change of orders.  Instead of being assigned to the 101st, they were being assigned to the 9th Infantry Division at Dong Tam as the 101st did not need replacements and the 9th was suffering a high casualty rate. Some of Barry’s re-assigned members decided to request a transfer back to the 101st; they were quickly informed to unpack and to settle in as they were here to stay for the near future.

At Dong Tam, Barry was assigned to the Mobile River Force, which was made up of both Army and Navy troops.  The Mobile River Force would board LCMs (Landing Craft Mechanized), also known as “Tango Boats” and they would be sent to contested areas along the Mekong Delta, including various canals which were tributaries to the Delta. There, they would disembark and conduct search and destroy missions.  These missions would often be in the jungle or traveling through rice paddies looking for enemy activities with orders to make an engagement if found.  “It wasn’t often when we found them, it usually was that they found us first,” Barry explained.

Barry related that there was no telling how long they would be on patrols.  While most of the patrols would be three to four nights, they could last as long as 19 days in the field. The problem with patrols longer than three or four nights was a condition called “Immersion Foot” or “Trench Foot.”  With Immersion Foot, the men would experience inflammation and stabbing pain in the feet due to constant exposure to wet conditions. “It was bad, our feet were always wet from being in the rice paddies while on patrol.”  The only relief they had was when they returned to base camp, or if leaving on another patrol with a short turn-around time, they would stay on a barracks ship located in the Mekong Delta. Barry recalled spending many nights on the USS Benewah in between assigned patrols where he could re-group and get dry clothes and have a hot meal. 

On February 26, 1969, a major mission took place.  Barry’s unit was assigned with three other platoons for a search and destroy mission for taking out a mortar tube sight being operated by the North Vietnamese Army.  Barry, just returning from a family member medical leave, was gearing up when he conversed with Gordon Gipner. Gipner told Barry that he had been assigned to point position many times while Barry was on leave and that he “was having a bad feeling” about this mission. Barry understood and told Gipner that he would take point and that Gipner could take the Number 2 position for the mission.  Overhearing the conversation, James Gleason, a Sergeant in his Unit, said he would take Number One position, or point position, Barry would be Number Two for the mission.  Gipner would fall in behind Barry.  

The mission started with two “Chieu Hois” leading the patrol.  Chieu Hoi(s) were Viet Cong defectors, usually from the area where they were patrolling, who would lead or guide the U.S. units.  Following was Gleason, then Barry, and then the remaining troops on the mission, including Gipner.  As the patrol advanced into enemy territory, they began to cross a bridge over a creek bed.  The bridge was old and only had one side that could be walked upon.  While crossing the bridge, a huge explosion occurred on the bridge just in front of Barry. The blast was believed to have originated from the U.S. Army Claymore mine that was found by the Viet Cong that could be hand detonated by the enemy.

The blast knocked Barry to the ground, Gipner was dead and three others in Barry’s unit were injured. Gleason, reacting to the blast, ran back and screamed to Barry that “they’ve blown your legs off.”  Barry, still conscious, informed his unit members to apply tourniquets to his legs, which they accomplished in a short time.  Barry credits combat medic “Doc Warren” for saving his life with his treatment that day at the bridge. 

Being initially treated in the field, Barry was moved to an area for a helicopter to land for removal of the injured.  Barry was one of the last to be loaded on the waiting helicopter and he wondered if he would have to wait for another helicopter. He later learned that being loaded last was for the most severely injured in order that they could be removed first upon reaching the base camp. 

Arriving at his base camp, Barry was taken immediately to the 3rd Surgical Hospital at Dong Tam where they began blood and fluid replacement on Barry and took many x-rays of his injuries.  The medical team then determined that Barry’s legs could not be saved and amputated both legs above the knees.  He remained at Dong Tam for post-surgical care until he could be transferred out from his base camp. “I had a lot of visits by people I got to know before I left,  even one guy who owed me money came and paid his debt in cash.”  

From the 3rd Surgical Hospital, Barry was then transferred to Vung Tau Hospital for further recovery.  He remained at Vung Tau Hospital for a week when the doctors determined that he was strong enough to be flown to the Army hospital in Yokohama, Japan. 

While strengthening up in Yokohama for the flight back to the States, Barry had another visitor.  His cousin, Terry LaRoche, a Marine also serving in Vietnam, was located and flown to Yokohama to be with Barry.  “It was a great surprise and it was nice to have family with me.”  Terry was allowed to stay with Barry until he was scheduled to fly back to the States. Barry was then transferred by helicopter to the Air Base where he boarded a C-130 and was flown to Walter Reed Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. 

While at Walter Reed, Barry underwent extensive physical therapy and learned, once again, to balance and to walk on prosthetic legs.  Barry explained he was in a designated amputee ward with others who lost various limbs and were being treated at Walter Reed.  “It was hard work, but we also had some good times,” Barry related.  He recalled a trip to the then Washington Senator’s ball game.  There, he and the others on the trip were allowed to visit the team’s locker room where he met Ted Williams and Nellie Fox.  “I was so impressed by these two ball players that I didn’t even think to ask for an autograph.” Following a ten-month stint at Walter Reed, Barry was released from the hospital and discharged from the Army. 

Barry returned home to Bradley and embarked upon the second promise he made. “Becoming a paratrooper was my first promise that I kept; the second one I made was marrying the prettiest girl in my high school class!”  Barry married Janine in 1970 and they have been married for 52 years.  

Returning home, Barry embarked upon his education by first attending Kankakee Community College where he received his Associate’s Degree. He then moved to St. Joseph, IL with Janine and attended the University of Illinois where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. Still being an athlete, Barry played wheelchair basketball and football while attending classes. 

Barry related that he had a rough time finding employment at a business that was wheelchair accessible.  Eventually he was hired at Roy Lang Oldsmobile as their bookkeeper and upon their closing, Barry was employed by the Veterans Administration at the Veterans’ Home in Manteno, IL.  There he served as Adjutant for the facility and oversaw admissions, activities and social services for the 340 bed facility. 

Barry also had a community service aspect during his career.  He was a treasurer for the Village of Bourbonnais for five years, an elected Village Trustee for 14 years and also served as an elected Kankakee Board Member for three years. 

Barry finally completed his third promise he made a little later in life with the support of Janine. That promise was to make one more parachute jump.  Enlisting the help of Army Knights Parachute team, who assist veterans in certain circumstances, he inquired into making a tandem parachute jump with a team member.  He spoke to Mike Elliot of the Golden Knights who said that a tandem jump would be possible for Barry.  Asking about the jump, Mike related “no problem, I just did a tandem parachute jump recently with a 90 year old man.”  Barry made that jump on Easter Sunday in 2015.  “We jumped at 14,000 feet, which was a bit higher than his training jumps at 12,000 feet,” Barry explained with a smile.  Before his tandem jump with Mike Elliot, Barry learned the name of the 90 year old man that Mike Elliot jumped with. Mike said I would recognize his name, it was President George H. W. Bush.  

Barry and Janine raised three beautiful girls, Cheri, Lesley and Brooke.  He and Janine also have five grandchildren and have now been bestowed the title of “great-grandparents” with the birth of Lilah. Barry and Janine are enjoying retirement in their home in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

Thank you Staff Sergeant Barry F. Baron for your courageous and dedicated service to our country, both in and out of the service. Your positive “can do” attitude is a credit to the U.S. Army and your country. Enjoy your well-deserved day of honor with your fellow veterans!