Baer entered the U.S. Military Academy in 1944 and graduated with the class of 1947.

[2] He earned a Silver Star and an Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters during one of two tours in Vietnam War as a brigade commander.

[2] In 1969 Baer was put in a Department of Defense position at the Pentagon, where he managed tank and military vehicle programs.

[3] Baer's son John Baer was a Lieutenant colonel assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in the Fulda Gap, where he commanded a squadron with Abrams tanks.

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