Baker Bandits

An anthology of first-hand accounts of the Baker Bandits – Marines on the front line of battle during the Korean War.

B-1-5 was a unique company in the Korean War. The Baker Bandits fought at Inchon, Naktong, Chosin Reservoir, Guerrilla Hunts and the many numbered hills. They inspired one B Company Commander, Gen. Charlie Cooper, to the extent that when he became Commanding General of the Marines First Division in 1977, his time with B-1-5 inspired his “Band Of Brothers Leadership Principles” used widely in the Corps for many years.

Emmett Shelton was a 19-year-old Marine Reservist in 1950. He was called to duty after graduating Austin High School and, within six months, he was a rifleman in Korea. The Korean winter of 1950 was brutal and Emmett was evacuated shortly after Chosin due to frostbite. After the war, Emmett got on with life, then in the 1980s he attended a Chosin Few Reunion. He was overwhelmed by a need to reconnect with his old Company, his Baker Bandits.

Emmett tracked down B Company members one-by-one and started a newsletter, The Guidon, to share stories and reconnect. For 20 years Emmett published The Guidon, monthly. The contributing readership grew to a high of 300, including a number of young B Company Marines fighting in Afghanistan. The Baker Bandits brings together firsthand accounts from The Guidon, written by the men of B-1-5 about their time in Korea: their battles, their fallen commanders, death in the foxhole, lost platoons, injuries, and what happened to them after the war.