Joseph Baker (1804-1846)

    Joseph Baker, newspaperman and public official, son of William and Jane (Gerrish) Baker, was born in Maine in 1804. On December 7, 1831, he arrived at San Felipe de Austin, where he taught school for three years and was secretary of the ayuntamiento in 1835. On October 5, 1835, he was issued title to one-fourth league of land on the west bank of Fish Pond Creek, a mile north of the site of Hempstead, in what is now Waller County. A ten-league grant made to him in December 1835 was cancelled by the Republic of Texas. With Gail Borden, Jr., and Thomas H. Borden, Baker, or Don José, as he was called, established the Telegraph and Texas Register at San Felipe; the first issue appeared on October 10, 1835. Baker severed his connection with the paper on April 5, 1836, to join the Texas army, in which he served from February 29 to June 1. He was a member of Moseley Baker's company at the battle of San Jacinto. In 1836 he was chosen second judge of Austin Municipality and became a charter member of the Texas Philosophical Society. He was appointed translator to the state on October 23, 1836, and was elected first chief justice of Bexar County on December 16, 1836. In 1837-38 he represented Bexar County in the House of the Second Congress. In 1841-42 he published the Houston Houstonian. He was Spanish translator in the General Land Office in 1845. Baker died in Austin on July 11, 1846, and was buried there in Oakwood Cemetery. In 1936 the state of Texas placed a monument at his grave. Sourcee

Section 1
Oakwood Cemetery
Austin

COORDINATES

30° 16.505, -097° 43.698

Christopher Scott Kyle (1974-2013)

    Chris Kyle, U. S. Navy SEAL and the U.S. military's most lethal sniper, son of Wayne Kenneth Kyle and Deby Lynn (Mercer) Kyle, was born in Odessa, Texas, on April 8, 1974. Kyle grew up in rural North Central Texas. His father worked for Southwestern Bell, but the family also maintained a small cattle ranch that Chris worked with his parents and younger brother Jeff. As a small boy, Chris Kyle had a Daisy BB gun, and when he was eight years old, his father bought a 30-06 rifle for Chris to use on their hunts together. Kyle attended high school in Midlothian, and during his time there he played baseball and football and rode horses. After graduating high school in 1992, Kyle, who had been active in the Future Farmers of America, studied agriculture at Tarleton State University. At the same time, he worked as a professional bronco rider until he suffered severe injuries that resulted in a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, a bruised kidney and lung, and the insertion of pins in his wrists. Kyle retired from bronc riding but became a ranch hand on a ranch in Hood County while he attended college classes. Kyle had often stated that his two possible ambitions focused on either ranching or joining the military.

    In 1996 he found himself at a shopping-mall military recruiting office. He had originally gone to talk to the army, but when they were not there, a navy recruiter informed him about the Navy SEALs. Kyle signed up but was initially rejected due to the pins in his arm. He subsequently quit school and decided to go back to ranching full-time. However, in the winter of 1997-98 he received a call back from the U. S. Navy and was invited to attend Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in Coronado, California. He officially joined the navy in February 1999. Upon completing the six-month training course, he was eventually assigned to SEAL Team 3 in April 2001. Shortly after completion of BUD/S, Kyle met Taya Studebaker at a local bar in San Diego, California. She worked in San Diego as a pharmaceutical representative. They married in 2002 before his first deployment. They had two children, a boy and a girl. Kyle, who had gone through the SEALs extensive sniper training, served four tours during his enlistment and fought in the war known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was deployed for the initial invasion of Baghdad in 2003, to Fallujah in 2004, to Ramadi in 2006, and back to Baghdad in 2008.

    In the course of his career, he had a record-breaking 160 confirmed kills, although the U. S. Navy has adjusted the number through the years. During his tours, he was also twice shot and survived six improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. His expert marksmanship and courage resulted in a silver star and four bronze stars with valor. Kyle, who achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer, earned a number of military honors, including Marksmanship Medals for Rifle and Pistol Expert, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Promoted to chief instructor, Kyle wrote the first U.S. Navy handbook for snipers. His work not only attracted the attention of the U.S. military but of his enemies as well. During his tours Kyle acquired the nickname “The Devil of Ramadi” and had a bounty of up to $80,000 placed on him by Iraqi insurgents.  In 2009 Kyle retired from the Navy SEALs after four deployments and ten years of service. Saying that his departure was one of the hardest decisions he had to make, he chose to prioritize his family and address marital difficulties back at home. Kyle came back home but experienced personal challenges in the transition from war to everyday life. The family settled in Midlothian, Texas, and he started his own tactical training and security business called CRAFT International. His autobiography American Sniper (written with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice) was published in 2012 and became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Kyle made a number of television appearances at this time and also worked with the FITCO Cares Foundation to furnish fitness equipment to wounded veterans, their families, and victims of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kyle and his wife began work to establish their own foundation - the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation - named after a frog skeleton tattoo Kyle had that was the symbol for fallen U.S. Navy SEALs. The foundation was designed to help veterans and first responders come back from the horrors of war and become reconnected with their families.

    On February 2, 2013, Kyle and a friend, Chad Littlefield, decided to take Eddie Ray Routh, a retired Marine suffering from PTSD, to Rough Creek Lodge Shooting Range near Glen Rose, Texas, for some therapy shooting. Picking up Routh, they headed to the range, where Routh shot and killed both Kyle and Littlefield. Routh fled the murder scene. Although Eddie Routh pleaded insanity, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2015. Kyle was a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and in his honor, the funeral service, which took place on February 12, 2013, was held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. More than 7,000 people came to pay their respects to a man considered an American hero. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. His second book, American Gun: A History of the U. S. in Ten Firearms, was published posthumously in 2013. On August 28, 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 162, also known as the Chris Kyle Bill, which required state agencies to recognize military training as credit towards the issuance of occupational licenses. The bill aimed to provide assistance for veterans seeking employment in Texas and acknowledge the value of special operations training achieved by veterans like Chris Kyle. The movie American Sniper, based on Kyle’s autobiography, was released in 2014. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, the film was very successful at the box office and earned six Academy Award nominations. Governor Gregg Abbott declared February 2, 2015, to be “Chris Kyle Day.” Kyle’s wife Taya carried on her husband’s legacy through the foundation that she and Kyle built together. Source

Statesmans Meadow
Texas State Cemetery   
Austin

COORDINATES

30° 15.979, -097° 43.577

Robert Anderson Irion (1804-1861)

    Robert Anderson Irion, physician, surveyor, and Republic of Texas secretary of state, was born in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee, on July 7, 1804, to John Poindexter and Maacha (White) Irion. He received his medical training and completed his education at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, in March 1826. He began his medical practice in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In 1832, following the death of his first wife, Ann A. Vick, he left a daughter in the care of relatives and moved to Texas, first practicing medicine in San Augustine. He subsequently moved to Nacogdoches, where he became a surveyor and partner of George Aldrich. 

    In May 1835 Samuel M. Williams, Francis W. Johnson, and Robert Peebles sponsored a bill in the legislature of Coahuila and Texas to award Irion and Aldrich 400 leagues of land for enlisting a company of soldiers for the Mexican army. Though the bill passed, Irion never received this grant, but he did receive a ten-league grant for enlisting as a soldier for that year. His title and all of the Mexican ten-league grants were canceled by the Republic of Texas. When the Mexican land offices closed in the fall of 1835, Irion returned to the practice of medicine in Nacogdoches. On September 14, 1835, he was elected to the Committee of Safety and Vigilance for Nacogdoches and on April 14, 1836, was a commandant of Nacogdoches Municipality. He was a senator from Nacogdoches in the First Congress of the Republic of Texas, from October 4, 1836, to June 13, 1837. President Sam Houston appointed him secretary of state of the Republic of Texas in 1837, and he traveled to the United States, Canada, England, and Europe until President Mirabeau B. Lamar appointed Barnard E. Bee to succeed him on December 13, 1838. Irion was a charter member of the Philosophical Society of Texas and an Episcopalian. On March 29 or 30, 1840, he married Anna W. Raguet of Nacogdoches, daughter of Henry Raguet; they had five children. Irion continued the practice of medicine in Nacogdoches until his death, on March 2, 1861. He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Nacogdoches, where a monument was erected in his honor. Irion County in West Texas was named for him in 1889. Source

Oak Grove Cemetery
Nacogdoches

COORDINATES

31° 36.202, -094° 38.945

James H. Fields (1920-1970)

    James H. Fields, Medal of Honor recipient, was born at Caddo, Texas, on June 16, 1920, the son of Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Fields. He graduated from Lamar High School in Houston and was drafted into the army in 1942. He was a member of the Tenth Armored Infantry, Fourth Armored Division, United States Army. First Lieutenant Fields was cited for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty" on September 27, 1944, at Réchicourt, France. He led his depleted platoon in a counterattack on an enemy position and exposed himself to enemy fire while attending to one of his wounded men. He himself was wounded in the face by a bursting shell. Badly injured and rendered speechless he continued to direct his platoon in the attack by hand signals. Two enemy machine-guns had the platoon in a deadly crossfire. Fields left his foxhole, picked up a light machine gun, and, firing from the hip, knocked out both the enemy positions. His action inspired his men to increase the pressure of the attack. Only when the enemy was scattered did Fields allow himself to be evacuated to the command post. There he refused further evacuation until he could brief the battalion commander. Only eleven of the fifty-five men in his platoon survived the day's engagement. Fields's heroism was largely responsible for the repulse of the enemy forces and was an inspiration to the entire command. After the war he became an independent oil operator. He died at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston (now the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston) on June 17, 1970, and was survived by his wife, Mathilde, and four children. He was buried in the VA Houston National Cemetery. Source 

CITATION  

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, at Rechicourt, France. On 27 September 1944, during a sharp action with the enemy infantry and tank forces, 1st Lt. Fields personally led his platoon in a counterattack on the enemy position. Although his platoon had been seriously depleted, the zeal and fervor of his leadership was such as to inspire his small force to accomplish their mission in the face of overwhelming enemy opposition. Seeing that 1 of the men had been wounded, he left his slit trench and with complete disregard for his personal safety attended the wounded man and administered first aid. While returning to his slit trench he was seriously wounded by a shell burst, the fragments of which cut through his face and head, tearing his teeth, gums, and nasal passage. Although rendered speechless by his wounds, 1st Lt. Fields refused to be evacuated and continued to lead his platoon by the use of hand signals. On 1 occasion, when 2 enemy machine guns had a portion of his unit under deadly crossfire, he left his hole, wounded as he was, ran to a light machine gun, whose crew had been knocked out, picked up the gun, and fired it from his hip with such deadly accuracy that both the enemy gun positions were silenced. His action so impressed his men that they found new courage to take up the fire fight, increasing their firepower, and exposing themselves more than ever to harass the enemy with additional bazooka and machine gun fire. Only when his objective had been taken and the enemy scattered did 1st Lt. Fields consent to be evacuated to the battalion command post. At this point he refused to move further back until he had explained to his battalion commander by drawing on paper the position of his men and the disposition of the enemy forces. The dauntless and gallant heroism displayed by 1st Lt. Fields were largely responsible for the repulse of the enemy forces and contributed in a large measure to the successful capture of his battalion objective during this action. His eagerness and determination to close with the enemy and to destroy him was an inspiration to the entire command, and are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Section Hb
Houston National Cemetery
Houston

COORDINATES

29° 55.828, -095° 27.041