researching 1Lt Ernest C. Baker

jdylry,

Thanks for sharing this is an amazing thread. You are an example of a great daughter !

 

The family I grew up in was like that, Lou. (The family I married and produced is very lively but a bit less vocal.) Let's just say that my upbringing prepared me perfectly for the junior high environment. The only thing I truly miss about teaching is the time alone with my students. My friend, a retired administrator, always responds, "Retired teachers just miss having a stage."

You're welcome, Steve--I'm delighted that it's turned into such an amazing thread thanks to all these generous people. I have to say, though, that I'm doing this for very selfish reasons. My mother was such a funny and loving person--everyone adored her--but she really never got her life back after my father was killed. And I never had any answers.

So...at this late date...I'm looking for those answers. My greatest regret is that I didn't ask for the help of Mike Catrambone, the WWII vet I mentioned in post #13. We emailed regularly after we all returned from Italy. He would have loved to do research for me and he had resources like you can't imagine. I think he sensed that I wasn't quite ready, though.



Unfortunately, the world lost this lovely man last year. He was intelligent, articulate, full of energy, and stayed that way until the very end. Mike was so proud of his military service--his wife told me that the WWII Memorial dedication was almost unbearably emotional for him because it was the first time the nation had actually said "thank you" to these veterans whose youth was sacrificed.

That's the reason forums like this are so important. I hope younger generations will learn to ask questions before it's too late, but I suspect they'll make the same mistakes most of us did. Maybe we can leave plenty of stories for them to find when they're "ready."

 

I understand what you're saying.

I grew up hearing about my brave uncle Clarence that was KIA in WW 2. I had 8 uncles and one cousin in WW 2 and they worshiped him as their hero. In my eyes he was larger than life. My dad and he were very close, they were sibblings to eleven. My dad was deaf and my uncle Clarence was the only one that learned how to sign.

Uncle Clarence was this 6'7" hollywood handsome, ladies man. He was not a bully but you didn't mess with him. He also was one of the best baseball players this area ever saw. This was confirmed by a family friend that played against him as a kid and played pro ball for the St Louis Browns.

In 2000 I was shown his grave site on a computer. From that point on I was hooked on learning his battles. This man enlisted in 1940 and saw some of the most terrible battles in Europe. Regretfuly he was KIA in December 1944. I did speak with the last member alive from the Cannon Company shortly before he died in 2004. It was sureal to speak with him. He confirmed that my uncle was the main man in that outfit, a true leader.

Your wonderful story brought all that back to me and I have to thank you for that !!

Best Regards,

Steve

 

Steve, your post is a lovely way to end my day. Your Uncle Clarence sounds like a good man--reading your description of him reminded me of this quote:

"A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered." ~Charles H. Spurgeon​

 

ok , I'm relic hunting today, but upon my return I will create a special thread for you and this fine story .

 

Hi every body,
I'm the young Belgium soldier who have contacted jdrly . It's an honor for me to help when I can ... I have 4.000 pictures from Graves and I'm in contact with US veterans from different outfits . I have contacted Mr John MacAuliffe (not Gen MacAuliffe Family) about the 87th Inf Div , and I'm waiting his reply .
Please apologize me about my English and rules about the forum .
Dominique

 

Thanks so much, Skipper. Am I correct in assuming that none of the replies will be lost?

Good luck on the relic hunting. I have a friend who deals in collectibles and antiques--he says eBay has killed him at things like garage sales and estate sales run by non-pros. Everybody does their homework ahead of time now.

 

Dominique!! You're here!! This is wonderful. When I read your email this morning, I thought you didn't plan to join the forum because you were worried about your English. I'm so glad you didn't let that stop you!

Everyone is so kind and so helpful--they'll make you feel comfortable right away. This will be wonderful practice for written English--it will help tremendously in your night class. Plus your English is really quite excellent--I haven't had trouble understanding a single thing in your emails. (Well, maybe I've had to look up a few military terms, but that was a problem with my English, not yours. )

I was going to introduce you to everyone but you did a great job of introducing yourself in the newcomers' thread: Sgt Potier.
------

I know all of you will enjoy getting to know Dominique--he's truly a credit to his family, to his country, and to his uniform. S!

 

Some pictures from the 87th
Preston's Photos : 87th Infantry Division

 

I have now moved and merged all postings here for a better understanding.

 

Thought you might be interested in the actions of his regiment, etc. So did a google search and found the following links, which you may not yet have:

87th Infantry Division - Operation Summary - Battle of the Bulge

“Golden Acorn ” 87th Division 345th Inf Co. M | History Documented

World War II unit histories & officers

Stalwart and Strong: The Story of the 87th Infantry Division - WWII G.I. Stories Booklet (Lone Sentry)

 

Here's a link to the 87th history book: 87th Infantry Division Association, scroll down to the 345th IR link. It's a detailed account of their history, 3rd Bn activities around Reuth are on pgs. 90-91. Your Dad's name is on page 171, left column near the top.

 

Thank you, Skipper. I appreciate your moving this to the proper thread.

I thought I had completely searched the 87th Infantry Site and also done a thorough Google search--you two are really good! Thanks so much for these links, Steve and Michelle. I hadn't seen a several of them so I appreciate your time in finding them for me.

Steve, I completely missed the download--my dad's name was mentioned twice, once as a 2nd Lt and once as a 1st Lt. Followup paperwork, obituaries, WWII Memorial, etc., all list him as 1st Lt. I assume paperwork hadn't caught up when he was killed or the promotion was posthumous.

Thanks to the education all of you have provided for me, I think I'm ready to create a timeline and tackle the documents left with Mother's things. Don't know why I've been reluctant--she's been gone for many years--but I think it's because she had so many years living with that terrible sadness.

I'll be sure to scan and share anything that I think might interest you. I'm very grateful to you all for your kindness and patience in helping me understand what to look for.

 

Glad I could help. This is going to be a fine thread.

 

OKAY--I'M GIVING ALL OF YOU A MEDAL!!!
Well, I would if I could!!
​

I received an envelope from NPRC today with 53 pages of information about my father!!!!! After nearly 30 years of being told that nothing of his survived the 1973 fire, I was thrilled to hear that I might get as many as six pages. And I got 53!!!!!

How in the world can I ever thank all of you? I truly had given up on this--I had written to the NPRC over a period of at least 25 years and I just kept getting the same answer--all of the records in that section were completely destroyed. If it hadn't been for this forum and encouragement from all of you, I probably would never have written again.

I've just started looking over the copies--the burned edges are clearly displayed. Some of the text is difficult to read because it's handwritten, squeezed into small spaces, and the copies are relatively poor.

But I've learned that my dad was promoted to 1st Lt a year before he died. The 87th INF KIA list says 2nd Lt but the WWII Memorial lists 1st Lt, so we thought it might have been a field or posthumous promotion--turns out it was a typo.

Probably most importantly, I finally know how he died. In a letter from his company commander to Mother:

"....Your husband, Lt Ernest C. Baker, was killed in action 4 March 1945 near Reuth, Germany, shortly after the capture of Reuth. Lt Baker was coming forward in a jeep to help set up the forward Company Command Post. The vehicle struck a mine, resulting in Lt Baker's immediate death...."

The letter goes on about his service and sacrifice and ends with the line, "I feel like I too have suffered a very personal loss in his passing." The only part of the signature I can read is (I think) Ralph R --- with the beginning of Captain directly under his name. [My thanks to Dan for providing the name of Capt Ralph Lodde, then CO of Company I.]
​

Unfortunately, most of the letters written to Mother by various commanding officers, chaplains, etc., have no signatures--the fire burned from the lower right corners to just above the signature area. As I read, though, I can feel the sorrow of these men whose duty it was to write letters to the families. Most are essentially form letters for understandable reasons, but I can't imagine how it felt to send them out in such great numbers.

I have no memory of my father, only a couple of pictures, and I was never told many stories about him because his death was so devastating to the entire family. Even without stories, though, my father was a constant presence in all of our lives and has remained so in mine.

I plan to scan everything at high resolution so I can enlarge and improve text with Photoshop. My husband will go through the pages with me to help with the abbreviations that always bog me down. I may not find huge amounts of new information, but at least I can compare what's given in the documents with the few artifacts and letters I have from my mother's things.

Sorry--another long post. Somehow, though, I know you're the ones who will understand how much comfort was delivered along with these damaged pages created more than 65 years ago.

Thank you. :heart:

 

I'm very happy for you!! You write with great feeling and I can, indeed, sense the comfort and relief this information has brought as you continue getting to "know" your father and his life.

Again, please continue to post whatever information you feel comfortable with as you work thru the documents.

 

I still can't believe what a wonderful catalyst this thread has been! I'm now in contact with the daughter of my father's C.O. Capt. Ralph Lodde. My dad was Ralph's Exec Officer for the six months prior to March 1945.

Ralph's daughter and her siblings are going to search through their father's records in hopes of finding a photo or some small mention of my father. To know nothing for 65 years and then all of this...truly overwhelming...and truly because of all of you.

 

I'm so happy for you ... sometimes the life is very good ... and a small things can giving a so wonderful moment .