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Home Town Topeka, KS
Last Address San Diego, CA
Date of Passing Nov 10, 1975
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Wilder Baker graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Class of 1914. He retired as a Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Admiral Wilder Baker, namesake of Admiral Baker Field in San Diego. Distinguished Member: Companions of the Naval Order, Insignia No. 03022 - the oldest, exclusively naval, American society...eleven years older than the Navy League.
Captain Wilder Dupuy Baker was the commanding officer of the battleship North Carolina (BB-55) from 5 December 1942 to 27 May 1943. Early in the Second World War he helped create the Antisubmarine Warfare Operational Research Group (ASWORG). He commanded cruiser-destroyer forces in the Aleutians and amphibious forces in the invasion of Saipan. He later was chief of staff of Task Force 38 under McCain. Together with Captain "Jimmy" Thach, McCain's operations officer, they devised tactics for using picket destroyers with combat air patrols to defend against kamikaze attacks.
In the U.S. Navy, Admiral Baker perhaps was best known as the chief of staff to Admiral John S. McCain.
Admiral Baker (1890-1975) was among the senior officers in the theatre at the time of Japan's surrender in 1945, having led a task force that attacked the Japanese home islands. Before the U.S. entered World War II, he helped develop tactics for anti-submarine warfare while escorting American convoys to England and dodging German U-boats. For all the wartime action he saw, it was Admiral Baker's peacetime role as the commandant of the 11th Naval District that resulted in his name being immortalized at the recreational facility located on what had been a portion of Camp Elliot. When the postwar decision was made to designate a portion of Camp Elliot as Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and to decommission other portions of the camp, Baker urged that a portion of the facility be set aside for the recreational needs of active duty military personnel and retired members of the Armed Services. Over the ensuing decades, Miramar was turned over to the Navy, and then back to the Marine Corps, while decommissioned portions of the huge base eventually were developed into the community of Tierrasanta and left in its natural state as Mission Trails Regional Park.
Wilder DePuy Baker retired with the rank of Vice Admiral in 1952.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral Wilder DuPuy Baker (NSN: 0-8703), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander, Task Force NINETY-FOUR (TF-94), in the Pacific theater of operations from June 1943 to March 1944. During this period, Rear Admiral Baker operated the forces under his command under adverse weather conditions, conducting the first surface bombardment of the Japanese home islands and led the first offensive operations into the Sea of Okhotak. His courage, professional ability and outstanding leadership were responsible for the successful completion of all operations undertaken against the enemy without casualties or damage to his own forces. Rear Admiral Baker's conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Navy of the United States.
General Orders: Commander In Chief Pacific Fleet: Serial 01892 (May 14, 1944)
Action Date: June 1943 - March 1944
Service: Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
Company: Commander
Division: Task Force 94
Silver Star
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Rear Admiral Wilder DuPuy Baker (NSN: 0-8703), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Chief of Staff to the Commander of Task Group THIRTY-EIGHT POINT ONE (TG-38.1) during the period 13 through 15 October 1944, off Formosa. Rear Admiral Baker's skillful high speed maneuvering and use of smoke by the Task Group, while interposing itself between two crippled cruisers and the major enemy air threat, enabled their successful withdrawal and eventual salvage. He resolved the problems presented by repeated and persistent air attacks and he maneuvered the Task Group with such skill and exceptional judgment that the enemy was forced to break off his attacks after suffering heavy losses. His courage and disregard for his own safety were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Action Date: October 13 - 15, 1944
Service: Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
Company: Chief of Staff to the Commander
Division: Task Group 38.1
Legion of Merit
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" to Rear Admiral Wilder DuPuy Baker (NSN: 0-8703), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Chief of Staff to the Commander, Second Carrier Task Force, Pacific, from 18 August 1944 to 25 January 1945. His complete grasp of the manifold functions involved in connection with operations against the enemy in the Palau Islands, the Philippines, the Nansei Shoto Group, Formosa, and the coast of Indo-China was a vital factor in the highly efficient execution of these missions. His professional skill in maneuvering the ships of the Task Force against sustained enemy aerial attack not only was instrumental in bringing an extremely high percentage of ships unscathed through these actions, but made possible the infliction of tremendous damage on the enemy by the aircraft based on carriers in the Task Force. His diligence, indefatigable energy and devotion to duty were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. (Rear Admiral Baker is authorized to wear the Combat "V".)
General Orders: Commander 2d Carrier Task Force Pacific: Serial 01223 (February 5, 1945)
Action Date: August 18, 1944 - January 25, 1945
Service: Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.