In January, 2000, John Anthony Baker of Elmwood Park explained to his parents, John and Susan Baker, when he enlisted in the Marine Corps: "I joined to keep the children of the world free."

Today, 25-year-old John Anthony Baker is fighting Operation Iraqi Freedom, serving in the Fox Company of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. This past January was the last time he spoke with his parents. He was aboard ship, headed out of Camp Pendleton in San Diego, en route to an "undisclosed area."

Susan Baker said, "Of course, we guessed where he was going."

After the phone call, John and Susan Baker received a few e-mails from their son and then several short notes in the mail. Last Tuesday, John Anthony Baker wrote to his parents, sister Jen and brother-in-law Wally, "Don't worry about me. I'm with a great bunch of guys. I won't be able to write anymore for a while."

Susan, his mother, said that until she received that note she was very strong, but those brief, loving words made her lose her precarious self-control; her fears for her son began to overwhelm her.

Then last Wednesday night, Sixty Minutes Two featured Fox Company's battle for the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and interviewed Captain Rick Crevier, her son's commander. Remarkably, and to their deepest relief, John and Susan spotted their son, John Anthony Baker, sitting next to his best friend as the camera panned around the proud U.S. Marines who had won control of the strategic port alongside the British Royal Marines.

Now Susan and John are waiting and praying again.

Susan draws comfort from the knowledge that her son has "found his niche." He struggled in school to overcome dyslexia, but has been promoted three times in the Marine Corps. He's Corporal John Anthony Baker, with the "bloodline", the red stripe running down his uniform trousers.

On his first tour with the Marines he helped Navy Seals seize an Iraqi oil tanker. The Seals did not have enough personnel and asked for volunteers. John Anthony Baker raised his hand.

Susan remarked with a mother's tears in her eyes, "I asked him why he had to start volunteering now, when he never did in school for all those years?"

What sustains his parents is their faith, their family and their knowledge that their son believes he is doing the right thing.

The Bakers also fulfill their son's special request: "Get out that we have to support our troops. We don't want to come home to what the troops did after Vietnam."

Last week they participated in a pro-troop rally held in Westwood. On Wednesday, March 27, St. Leo's School (John Anthony's elementary school) held a prayer service for peace and Susan attended to tie a yellow ribbon around a tree there. She wants Americans to understand that our troops fighting in Iraq "chose to do it, because we don't have a draft. They are fighting out of a strong sense of duty and to protect our freedoms and rights."