It celebrates the military lives of seven brothers from Hollidaysburg who served during the Vietnam era.

“Seven from the same family,” said state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, who introduced legislation signed by the governor in June to designate the bridge in the brothers’ honor — and who spoke at a news conference Thursday called to highlight the installation of new signs at the span. “It’s especially rare and remarkable.”

Francis, Edward, Charles, Thomas, Raymond, his identical twin Philip and Joseph — oldest to youngest, sons of William and Marie Baker of Park (now Justice) Street — served a total of 125 years, beginning in 1956 with Francis and ending in 1995 with Joseph, according to information provided at the news conference.

Charlie, who was in the Army, was the only one in a combat zone — in Vietnam, according to Joseph, who was in the Navy.

Terry Baker points out her seven brothers that are honored with the bridge dedication ceremony at the American Legion Post 516 Social Hall in Hollidaysburg on Thursday morning. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

All the rest served in the Air Force, Joe Baker said.

Their father was a molder in the McLanahan’s foundry and wanted his children to have something better, so he encouraged the boys to join the service, Baker said.

“He could be hard, like fathers are,” Baker said. “(But) he was looking out for us.”

Baker joined the Navy in 1971 as an aviation electronics tech.

The Navy appealed to him partly because all but one of his older brothers had joined the Air Force.

“You’ve got to (forge) your own way,” he said.

He supposed that makes him the “gray sheep” of the family.

He was based mostly in Norfolk during a 24-year military career, serving mainly on aircraft carriers: the USS John F. Kennedy, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Enterprise.

“I was an airedale,” Baker said, using Navy jargon for those who serve in that branch’s aviation community.

His main job was taking care of radar, radios and tactical aids to navigation.

He went to lots of schools during his time in the service to learn how, he said.

It was steady work, with good pay after he’d been in for a while, and he got to go lots of places and do lots of things.

Baker saw the Pyramids in Egypt, the Coliseum in Rome, the Acropolis in Athens and the Panama Canal, and he crossed the Arctic Circle and the Equator — an experience that turned him from a polliwog to a shellback.

He wasn’t likely to get fired, unless “I really messed up,” he said.

“It was interesting,” he said. “A lot of good times and a lot of times that were not so good” — but those kinds of times are everybody’s lot, he said.

Baker married Linda Diehl of Puzzletown, who died 12 years ago. They had three children. He now has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Two of his sons and three of his grandsons became Eagle Scouts, like he did himself, said Baker, who lives in Waynesboro.

His girlfriend of 10 years, Patsy Lindsay, lives in Hagerstown, Md.

There were five other siblings: Patricia, second oldest; James, fourth oldest; Margaret, seventh; Teresa, 10th; and John, the 12th, Baker said.

Besides himself, Francis, Patricia, James and Teresa are still living, he said.

They were a devout Catholic family, members of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Hollidaysburg, according to information provided at the meeting.

Margaret and Teresa both became nuns in the Sisters of Notre Dame, based in Baltimore, although both eventually left the order, Baker said.

He alone among his siblings attended Bishop Guilfoyle High School at the urging of his mother, who hoped he would become a priest — although that idea didn’t survive his high school tenure, Baker said.

Ward knew Tom best among the siblings.

“He was a lovely and kind man,” who attended daily Mass and whom you could count on for a smile, Ward said.

The Baker family relied on crops they raised in gardens — in their backyard, in the backyard of their aunt next door and in nearby fields, according to Teresa Baker.

“That’s how we sustained ourselves,” she said.

A friend of their father’s would drive a tractor to help reduce the labor involved.

Most of the siblings worked in those fields, planting, tending and harvesting potatoes, corn, tomatoes and other produce, Teresa Baker said.

They worked in inclement weather when necessary, she said, recalling times they picked potatoes in the rain and after the sun set.

They got 80 bushels of potatoes one year.

They stored the potatoes — along with apples — in a cellar under the back porch.

Patricia was largely responsible for doing the dishes, Teresa Baker said.

“My mother taught us to work together,” she said.

Their mother put up vegetables in glass jars and made her own ketchup.

The kids teased their mother, who took it well — until she got tired, after which she’d take off a shoe and give chase to anyone who persisted.

Tom Gray, founder and president of the Greater Pennsylvania Military Preservation Association, initiated the effort to name the bridge.

“It’s super important that (the Baker brothers) get recognized,” Gray said. “They made a lot of sacrifices, and they were dedicated to the country and (believed) in the American way.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.