Appreciating Dexter Gordon's maternal grandfather

One of five African-American Medal of Honor recipients in the Spanish-American War

Edward L. Baker Jr., from Wikipedia
Commons, scanned from page 146
of the book Black Valor: Buffalo Soldiers 
and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898
by Frank N. Schubert (1997,
Scholarly Resources Inc.).
Original image from the National Archives.

Although it's a widely reported fact, it's new to me and worth passing on:

The Official Dexter Gordon Web Site, Dextergordon.com, asserts that the elegant, hard-swinging tenor saxophonist's mother's father served as a sergeant major in the Spanish American War. Furthermore, Edward L. Baker Jr. earned a Medal of Honor for rescuing a wounded soldier from drowning while they were under fire. He was one of five African-American Medal of Honor Recipients in that war. 

Baker is the father of Dexter's mother, Gwendolyn Baker.