Lieutenant Leon E Baker
Leon Eldon Baker was born in Guymon, Oklahoma on May 19th, 1922 to Jewel and Frank Baker. When Leon was 14, his family moved to Missouri where he would graduate from Fordland High School. Any hope of continuing his education was crushed when he was drafted into the army on December 7th, 1942, exactly one year after WW2 began. After nearly 2 years of training at Alexandria, Louisiana and Camp Howze, Sgt Baker shipped out to Europe with Company K, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division, arriving on October 20th, 1944. Soon, they would be tasked with attacking through the Vogues near Germany, crossing the Meurthe River on November 9th, and soon capturing St. Die and Deifenbach. During their first combat operation, SSgt Baker was wounded at Villa, France on November 28th, 1944 by five machine gun bullets that hit his femur and his right arm. Baker would be evacuated to the 94th Evacuation Hospital for treatment until rejoining his unit a few weeks later, just in time to repulse a german attack near Muehlhausen where he would be awarded a Bronze Star for bravery on January 25th, 1945. During a lull in the fighting, Baker was discharged to accept a promotion to 2nd Lieutenant on February 16th, and attended a 3 week Officer’s Training Course. After completion, he was transferred to Company K of the same regiment as platoon leader on March 28th for mop up operations near the Rhine. When the German’s announced their surrender, 2nd Lt Baker remained in Europe for the occupation as he lacked enough points to return home. Eventually, he was transferred to the 179th Infantry Regiment and was able to get home by September, but not before he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He would marry Ethel Web on October 2nd of that year and be discharged on March 24th, 1946. When the Korean War broke out, Leon was called back into the service in January of 1951, completing an officer refresher course to once again become a 1st Lieutenant. This time he would be training troops with the 1st Armored Division for one year. Afterwards, he would settle back down in Guymon, Oklahoma where he farmed on his property. After the death of his wife in 1995, Mr. Baker moved to an assisted living center where he unfortunately passed away on June 14th, 2006.
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