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A truck driver in his civilian life, Army National Guard Sergeant Joe Baxter moved from Macon, Georgia to Biloxi, Mississippi. Before he could transfer to a local Guard unit there he received news that his Georgia unit was deploying to Iraq. Determined to go with them, he and his fiance moved their wedding date from September to June. By September the 50-year old newlywed (a veteran of 15 years service in the Guard after an active duty stint in the Navy) was in Iraq.
He had just returned from a patrol in Mosul when he learned Hurricane Katrina had devastated the Gulf Coast around Biloxi.His reply: "No sir," Sgt. Baxter told his commander. "We'd all like to be home, but I'll do my duty here."Each day, at the end of his 12-hour duty tour he tried to get in touch with Barbara but could not reach her. As news of the devastation and loss of life along the Gulf filtered in, Sgt. Baxter's thoughts went back to the little brick house his wife had designed in a shady, pleasant neighborhood about a half mile from the Gulf.
Was his wife among the missing? Was the house still there? Finally, a text message from his wife's niece in Florida: Barbara was alive -- overwhelmed by the devastation to their home and community, but alive.
Sgt. Baxter's commanding officer, Maj. Brian Borek, could see the toll the news was taking on the tall, wiry sergeant whom he had come to rely on as one of the key men in his command. "I told Joe he would almost certainly qualify for a 'compassionate release' from his mission in Iraq."
Sgt Baxter's story can be found at the American Security Council Foundation's America's Heroes web page. There you can read other such stories, and submit more.
This is an effort to tell the stories of heroism by our men and women in uniform – the stories that are left untold. Each month we will highlight a single soldier. His or her story will appear on the Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends,” (7AM – 9AM EST) and here on the American Security Council Foundation website.We invite you to read and share these stories. These acts of heroism occur everyday. So we encourage you to submit the story of a brave soldier you know. We will review each story and select one each month to highlight. Remember, there is nothing more important than supporting those who keep us free.
