DONALD ARTHUR BAKER

2nd Lieutenant, United States Army

Service # 31217359, O1018376

Donald Baker was born on 6 Oct 1914 in Sanford, York County, Maine. He was the middle of three children of Mary Ella Charron (1877-1943), born in Massachusetts and Arthur Telesphore Baker (1876-1956), from New York. Arthur had served in the military in Company G, 6th Regiment of the Massachusetts Infantry from Jun 1898 until Jan 1899. He likely remained in Massachusetts after being discharged and there met Mary, whom he married on 21 Jun 1909 in Lowell, MA. He was thirty-three. By 1913, when their first child, Pauline Annette, was born they had relocated to Sanford, Maine. Arthur made his living as a mechanic, first in a neighborhood garage, and later in his own shop. Donald came along in 1914 and Thomas four years later. In 1920, Mary’s mother, Alice Charron was living with the family. The children all attended local schools. Thomas graduated from Sanford High School in 1933/1934.

On 6 Jun 1936 Donald married Laurence Annette Larochelle (1915-2008) from Biddeford, ME in St. Joseph’s Church. Following the wedding they left on a honeymoon in the White Mountains and Boston. Laurence had graduated from St. Joseph’s High school in 1932. Her family owned and operated the White Star Laundry in Biddeford where both she and Donald worked for a number of years. In 1940 he was a truck driver for the family business while Laurence was caring for their two children: Caroline, born about 1937 and Norman, born three years later. That same year, 1940, the couple took a trip to New York for the World’s fair.

In 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Donald, who was active in the Biddeford-Saco lodge of the Elks, had signed up with American Legion Post 26 to be part of the aircraft warning service. On 2 Dec 1942, Donald enlisted at Portland, ME as a private in the United States Army. He was nearly six feet tall, weighing 170 pounds, married and classed with “semiskilled routemen.” Donald was selected to be assigned to the Armored Force Replacement Training Center at Fort Knox, KY for a 12-week course. At sometime after this training, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the 264th Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. The division, which had been activated 15 April 1943, trained at Camp Blanding, FL, Camp Robinson, AK and Camp Rucker, AL before being shipped overseas to Dorchester, England on 26 November 1944.

Commanded by Maj. Gen. H. F. Kramer, the regiments of the 66th were tasked to contain and eliminate the remaining pockets of German soldiers in northern France. On 24 Dec 1944 2,223 soldiers from the 262nd and 264th Regiments sailed for Cherbourg, France, aboard the SS Leopoldville, a Belgian passenger liner that had been converted into troop carrier. Five miles from land, at 17:54, the ship was hit with torpedoes from the German U-boat U-486. By Christmas day 515 service men, most from the 66th Division, were presumed to have gone down with the ship in the English Channel, among them was 2nd Lt. Donald Arthur Baker. Another 248 died of injuries, drowning or hypothermia.

On 18 Jan 1945 Donald Baker was reported as missing in action since Christmas day in the European War Theater. By March his status had been changed to “killed in action.” Ritualistic services were conducted for him at the Elks Lodge in April 1945. Donald’s sacrifice earned him a Purple Heart. He is memorialized at the Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets at the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-Sur-Mer, France and in the Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Biddeford, Maine. He was survived by his father, his wife and two children.

Today, four hundred and ninety-three soldiers remain listed as missing in action from the sinking of the SS Leopoldville, 12/24/1944.

“This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project – see www.storiesbehindthestars.org – a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Together we Served and Fold3/Find A Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of the WWII fallen.”

SOURCES

1920 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1930 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1940 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

Biddeford Daily Journal (Biddeford, ME) - Mon, Jun 30, 1941 - Page 8 – Newspapers.com

Biddeford Daily Journal (Biddeford, ME) - Tue, Mar 13, 1945 - Page 8 – Newspapers.com

Biddeford Daily Journal (Biddeford, ME) - Fri, Mar 16, 1945 - Page 6 – Newspapers.com

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56642022/donald-arthur-baker

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107794734/donald-a-baker

Maine, U.S., Birth Records, 1715-1922 – Ancestry.com

Maine, U.S., Military Index, 1917-1920 – Ancestry.com

Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Records, 1940-1015 – Ancestry.com

Portland Evening Express (Portland, ME) - Sat, Dec 26, 1942 - Page 18 – Newspapers.com

Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME) - Tue, Apr 1, 2008 - Page 15 – Newspapers.com

Sanford Tribune and Advocate (Sanford, ME) - Thu, Jun 11, 1936 - Page 2 – Newspapers.com

Sanford Tribune and Advocate (Sanford, ME) - Thu, Jan 18, 1945 - Page 1 – Newspapers.com

Sanford Tribune and Advocate (Sanford, ME) - Thu, Mar 15, 1945 - Page 1 – Newspapers.com

U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 – Ancestry.com

U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1970 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 – Ancestry.com

SBTS/Maine/York

Donald A Baker