R.I.P. Lance Cpl. David R. Baker

Name: Marine Lance Cpl. David R. Baker

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Age: 22

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From: Painesville, Ohio

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Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

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Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. David R. Baker died Oct. 20 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

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Died: October 20, 2009

(Taken from blog.cleveland.com) PAINESVILLE, Ohio — As the nation's leaders debated the war in Afghanistan, David Baker was fighting it.

The young Marine from Lake County shouldered six weeks of combat in war-torn Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold.

Anxious to get out, he remained a committed soldier. On Tuesday, he made the ultimate sacrifice.

Baker, a 2006 graduate of Riverside High School in Painesville Township, was on foot patrol when a hidden bomb exploded close enough to kill him. Anguished loved ones say they would not be surprised if he was leading that patrol, as was his custom.

"They just grow up before your eyes and then, and then they're gone," said a grieving father, Mark Baker. "He was a Marine. He had a job to do and he did it. He was a great kid."

David Raymond Baker grew up dreaming of joining the military and followed his older brother into the U.S. Marine Corps. He settled into a service that soon lost its luster. Toward the end of his tour, he was anxious to finish and to get out alive, his family said.

He almost made it. The lance corporal, who turned 22 on October 1, was due to complete combat duty Nov. 29. He was to be home before Christmas.

"He was on the last lap," Mark Baker said. "As far as my family is concerned, he is a hero."

A war that unnerves the U.S. government had also spooked the friendly, country-music loving young man from Painesville Township. Upon learning that his second tour overseas would take him to Afghanistan, Baker shared with his father a premonition that he would not be coming back.

"It was just something in his gut," Mark Baker said. "He said, 'I just have a bad feeling about this.'"

Still, he served with determination, as his older brother Mark expected.

"I knew if he got the responsibility, he would do it and do it well," said Mark Baker Jr., 23, who recently finished a tour in the Marines.

David Baker enlisted nearly three years ago, soon after finishing high school. He landed in Afghanistan on Memorial Day and by September was in the thick of the long-running war. He was a "mortar man" in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, his brother said.

He got a hold of a satellite phone in late September. With a flurry of calls home to family and friends, he relayed his experiences and even said some good-byes.

He said his unit was patrolling Helmand, a largely lawless, opium-growing province bordering Pakistan.

"He was fighting. He was fighting every day," his father said. "He was the guy who always volunteered to be point," to lead a patrol of a dozen or so soldiers.

There were close calls. Friends and mates were wounded in a truck bombing. Once, one of the Afghani nationals following his lead accidentally discharged his gun and nearly shot him.

His parents urged him to be safe. They questioned why he was leading patrols.

"He told me, 'Dad, that's my job. I can control the pace. I can be more careful for everybody.'"

On Tuesday, Marine Corps officers arrived at the home of Mark Baker and at the home of his ex-wife and David's mother, Laurie Lewkowski. The parents learned that their son was on foot patrol when someone detonated an IED, an improvised explosive device, killing him.

In addition to his parents and his brother, David Baker is survived by 19-year-old twin sisters -- Taylor, a student at Lakeland Community College, and Lauren, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

On Wednesday, family members were making plans to fly to Delaware to meet the casket at Dover Air Base today. David Baker is to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, his family said. Local memorial services are being planned.