Sergeant First Class Baxter was a member of Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy near Hagaru, North Korea on December 6, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were recovered in 2001 as part through the efforts of a joint recovery team in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir. In 2016 his remains were positively identified. His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.