Milton Baker Sr. was killed April 27, 2011, after a tornado struck Vestavia Hills, Alabama.VESTAVIA HILLS, Alabama --- Milton Edward Baker Sr. barely had time to catch his breath and consider storm damage to his own Cahaba Heights home when he heard cries from across the street.
He and another neighbor dashed toward the voices and through a demolished house to find a woman with 5-year-old twins under a stairwell. Baker calmed the woman, then stretched out his hand and pulled her and her children to safety.
The boys remarked of their rescuers, "They're superheroes, and they don't even wear costumes," said Baker's son, David Wesley.
That's how Baker lived -- as a hero to his nation, his family, his neighbors. That's how he died that April 27 morning, struck by an unhinged tree top that fell 40 feet as he waited to help another storm victim.
Baker, 68, served two tours in Vietnam, Wesley said. He was a deacon and Sunday school director at the First Baptist Church of Hoover.
"He could repair anything," Wesley said. "He fixed computers, cash registers. He could fix cars. He could build cabinets. He was an amazing man."
Baker was buried May 2 in the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo wearing his military uniform and medals.
"He was a true hero," Wesley said.