Baker family fonds 1917-1918
Douglas M. Baker (1895-1972) and Stephens O. Baker (1890-1953) were brothers, and great-grandsons of Stephens Baker. Both men served overseas during World War I. The fonds contains diaries they kept during the War.
Lieutenant Douglas Baker's diary contains entries during the spring and summer of 1918 in France. He comments on shelling, tear gas, soldiers leaving for Paris for Bastille Day, and a train full of German prisoners captured at Chateau-Thierry. Private Stephens Baker arrived in Liverpool in October 1918. His diary includes observations on the landscape where the First Battle of Marne was fought, as well as some of the events that followed the signing of the armistice.
Diary of 1st Lieutenant Douglas M. Baker, 1918
Baker makes reference to an altercation with the enemy in his April 15 entry, noting that they "lost quite a few men, but took a few prisoners and killed a great number of Boche".