LASTING VALOR. (Dust jacket title: "Lasting Valor: Story of the only living Black World War II veteran to earn America's highest distinction for valor, the Medal of Honor.")

Baker, Vernon J., 1919-2010, with Ken Olsen. Colin L. Powell (Foreword).

ISBN 10: 1885478518 / ISBN 13: 9781885478511

Published by Columbus, MS: Genesis Press, Inc., 1997., 1998

About this Item

#30 of a limited edition of 350 hand-numbered copies SIGNED BY THE AUTHORS VERNON J. BAKER AND KEN OLSEN - "Limited Edition" stated on copyright page and at dj front flap's top right. xvi, 294 pages. Hardcover: H 23.5cm x L 15.75cm. Dust jacket rubbed with some slight bumping and minor nicks at edges. Black boards; vibrant gilt stamped lettering to spine with heel bumped. Interior pages are bright and clean. Binding retains some crispness. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Handwritten limitation along with both black ink signatures of Baker and Olsen on a "Limited Edition" leaf bound-in between half-title and title pages. Genesis Press issued this 350 copy signed "Limited Edition" (ISBN 1885478518) as well as a 150 copy signed "Special Edition" (ISBN 1885478526) but it is unknown which has priority although the former seems more likely as it utilizes a more standard promotional term in the book publishing industry; Genesis also published what was evidently an unsigned/unnumbered trade edition with yet a third different ISBN. With front endpaper maps, Foreword by General L. Colin Powell, Acknowledgements, Prologue, unpaged section of b/w plates on four leaves, Epilogue, Appendix, "About the Authors," Select Bibliography, and Index. {Military-Shelf#3} ISBN 1885478518.

Seller Inventory # Z626X-5627

Bibliographic Details

• Title: LASTING VALOR. (Dust jacket title: "Lasting Valor: Story of the only living Black World War II veteran to earn America's highest distinction for valor, the Medal of Honor.")
• Publisher: Columbus, MS: Genesis Press, Inc., 1997.
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1885478518
• ISBN 13: 9781885478511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military History

About this title

About the Author

Orphaned at age four, Vernon J. Baker was raised in Wyoming by his grandparents, in a town with just a dozen other black families. During adolescence, he spent two years at Father Flanagan’s Boys Home in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from high school in Iowa, worked as a railroad porter. He fought to join a segregated army, and was sent to Italy with one of the few all-black regiments to see combat in World War II.

Mr. Baker fought in Italy, earning a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Distinguished Service Cross. He was one of the most highly decorated black soldiers in the Mediterranean Theater. On January 13, 1997, fifty-two years after Mr. Baker’s World War II military service, President Clinton presented him with the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor, the Medal of Honor.

Mr. Baker stayed with the Army, lived through its desegregation, and became one of the first blacks to command an all white company. He joined the Airborne along the way and made his last jump at age forty-eight.

After retiring from the Army, he spent nearly twenty years working for the Read Cross. Today, he lives in Northern Idaho with his wife. Heidy.

Journalist Ken Olsen also grew up in Wyoming. He is an award-winning writer from Spokane, Washington Spokesman-Review, which featured his widely hailed series on Vernon Baker. His free-lance work includes essays published in the Left Bank series of literary anthologies produced by blue Heron Publishing Co. He also is the coauthor of a winter guide to Yellowstone National Park. Mr. Olsen, his sweetheart, Samantha, and their faithful dogs live in northern Idaho.