(Picture Courtesy of Rick Demas)

Medals and Badges Pfc. Baker probably earned

Harold A. Baker entered the Service from Passaic County,New Jersey. He served from March 1943 in G Company, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR), 101st Airborne Division.

The 327th GIR had their glidertraining at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. They began training with the CG-4a Glider. Along the way the glidermen were introduced to the paratroopers of the 502nd PIR. Many fights would break out between these two groups, as the paratroopers thought they were the best and that the glidertroopers didn't have the “Right Stuff” to be Airborne Soldiers. Nevertheless, in North Carolina the men received glider training at Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base. The first flights caused ill-effects on some of the men, who used their helmets, since air sickness bags were not available at the time. As training with the gliders progressed it became more apparent that landing men by gliders was to be more dangerous than landing by parachute. Some of the landings were to result in serious injuries. Mostly broken arms and legs. On landing, gliders would slide out of control and crash into trees or fences. Some, upon landing, would slide in and the nose of the glider would dig in and cause it to tilt up vertically on its nose section causing the contents of the glider to break free of it's lashings and come crashing forward, injuring Glidermen and Glider Pilots alike.

Mr. Denis Parsons told me that Harold Baker and he both served in the 3rd platoon which was the 30 cal. (air cooled) machine gun section and the 60mm mortor section. They served in the machine gun section. The company had two squads of 5 men each. The machine gun members carried the 30 cal. carbine with folding stock. Harold Baker was a ammo bearer, but the men all took turns on the gun at different times.

30 cal. machine gun unit of the 327th GIR

Company G, 2nd Battalion, 327th GIR landed by boat, and not glider, at UTAH BEACH (Normandy, France) in the early afternoon of June 7, 1944. They were straffed by a Messerschmitt which was shot down by a Spitfire at that moment. Company G captured the pilot as they tried to shoot him in parachute, but missed. Its mission was to move to Carentan to cut off the fleeing Germans. The company was involved in an intense machine gun battle just north of Carantan, along the canal west side. Although causalities were high, the mission was accomplished. After weeks of fierce fighting the 101st Airborne Division was used as a kind of occupation force. Harold and the others of his sqaud never went on patrols with the machine gun, riflemen and B.A.R. men were used on patrols. Then the company moved back to England to prepare for its next mission.

G Company landed, one day after Operation Market Garden started, in Son on September 18, 1944. Holland was according to another G Company veteran the worst fighting. Company G took an awful lot of casualties on Black Friday in Veghel. Mr. Jack Sherman, replacement after Normandy, told me: “The main things I remember about Holland was that the nights were so very dark, cold and damp. I was there for over 70 days and during that time I only remember having two hot meals (from the British mess) and was able to take one shower. We were subject to a lot of Kraut artillery fire and the shelling we took in the churchyard in Veghel was one of the most terrifying times of the whole war.”

After Holland the men went to a base in Mourmelon, France, to recover from their casualties. During the “Battle of the Bulge” the company served with some replacements. Not Harold Baker’s squad, but the other squad was lost at Marvie, outside Bastogne, in the fighting in December 1944. The bodies of these soldiers have never been found. Mr. Denis Parsons told me that when Harold Baker was killed by friendly fire he was in the hospital at Bar Le Duc, France with frozen feet from the Bulge. The friendly fire that killed Pfc. Harold A. Baker on January 13, 1945 was “close air support” by a 250 lb bomb as the troops were advancing.

Pfc. Harold A. Baker's Grave (Picture Courtesy of Rick Demas)

Mr. Parsons told me: “Harold was a good soldier who you could depend on, and he did the things we were trained to do. Stay alert, be careful, and stay awake at night.” Pfc. Harold A. Baker’s final resting place is, together with 7,989 brothers in arms, the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium, Plot H, Row 15, Grave 31.

Me, Rick, next to Pfc. Baker's grave with Christmas 2006
(Picture Courtesy of Rick Demas)

If anyone has information that may be of assistance to me about Pfc. Harold A. Baker, please contact me at rickmommers@msn.com

Sources:
Mr. Denis Parsons (G Co., 327th GIR, 101st Abn., 1943-1945)
Mr. Jack Sherman (G Co., 327th GIR, 101st Abn., 1944-1945)
Mr. Kevin Brooks
http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/327/327.html