United States. A DSC Group to Captain Baker for Crossing the Andon River Under Fire in 1918
Item #W5089
$1,650
United States; Army Distinguished Service Cross (bronze, 43.7 mm (w) x 50.5 mm (h) original ribbon with dual-prong pinback); Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster (silver star placed upon a bronze gilt base, numbered "1186" on the edge, engraved "RALPH W. BAKER" on the reverse, 36 mm (w) x 34.7 mm (h), oak leaf cluster affixed to its original ribbon with brooch pinback); Purple Heart (bronze gilt with purple, red, white and green enamels, numbered "19165" on the edge, engraved "RALPH W. BAKER" on the reverse, 34.7 mm (w) x 43 mm (h), lacquered); World War I Victory Medal, 3 Clasps - DEFENSIVE SECTOR, MEUSE-ARGONNE, ST. MIHIEL (bronze gilt, 36.2 mm, original ribbon with brooch pinback); and France: Order of the Legion of Honour, Knight (silver with red, white, blue and green enamels, hallmarked on the tip of the ribbon on the reverse, 41.5 mm (w) x 60.7 mm (h) inclusive of its wreath and ball suspension, original ribbon, chipping evident in the white enamels on the arm at 3 o'clock on the obverse). Better than very fine. Accompanied by a Silver Star Device (silver, 6.5 mm (w) x 5.8 mm (h), both prongs intact); two Identification Tags (die-stamped metal, inscribed "BAKER, RALPH W / 0-156086 T42 A / REBA BAKER / 710 LANCASTER ST / BIG SPRING TEX. P", 61 mm (w) x 28.5 mm (h) each, accompanied by a 35 mm (w) x 14.8 mm (h) 1916 Texas Licence Fob numbered "9140", all three items on a full-length multi-link neck chain); a Captain Rank Insignia (silvered metal, unmarked, 25.3 mm (w) x 27.5 mm (h), missing its pinback); six Lieutenant-Colonel Rank Insignia (frosted silver, unmarked, 26.5 mm (w) x 28.5 mm (h), vertical pinbacks); five Major Rank Insignia (three are gold filled sterling silver, maker marked "Luxenberg NEW YORK" and marked "1/20-10K. G.F. STERLING" on the reverse, 26.2 mm (w) x 28 mm (h) each, dual push pins; two are bronze gilt, unmarked, 25 mm (w) x 26.8 mm (h) each, vertical pinbacks); an Army Corps of Engineers Collar Insignia (bronze gilt, maker marked "AMCRAFT ATTLEBORO MASS" and marked "ACID TEST" on the reverse, 28.5 mm (w) x 17.3 mm (h), dual push pins); six Exploding Bomb Insignia (bronze gilt, maker marked "MEYER METAL" with the N.S. Meyer company insignia on their reverses, four at 11.5 mm (w) x 25.5 mm (h); two at 16.3 mm (w) x 23.7 mm (h); all designed with dual push pins, with three of the twelve push pins missing); six U.S. Army Collar Insignia (bronze/brass, two are maker marked, the other four are unmarked, ranging in size from 22.2 mm (w) x 12 mm (h) to 27.5 mm (w) x 12.5 mm (h), four with dual push pins, one of the pins missing, two with pinbacks); an American Defense Service Medal Ribbon Bar (original ribbon 35.3 mm (w) x 12.5 mm (h), dual push pins); an Engineers Unit Badge (bronze with red enamels, maker marked "N.S. MEYER INC. NEW YORK" with the company's insignia on the reverse, 21.8 mm (w) x 26.5 mm (h), vertical pinback); a Photograph of Captain Baker in his First World War 315th Engineer Battalion Uniform (black and white, matte finish, wearing the Army Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre (War Cross) with bronze palm, along with a ribbon bar of the Silver Star and Purple Heart beside the two awards on his left breast, 87 mm (w) x 136 mm (h), with a French post card style backer); along with assorted research papers.
Footnote: Ralph Welcome Baker was born on April 28, 1891 in Clint, El Paso County, Texas, the son of a Virginia couple. He attended grade school in Clint, then went to El Paso High for two years, followed by a stint at Ysleta High, where he graduated in 1910. From 1912 to 1914, he attended the El Paso School of Mines (later Texas Mines and the University of Texas El Paso). Baker joined the New Mexico National Guard in 1915. On March 3, 1916, he was six miles away from Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, after Villa had slipped across the border and raised Columbus, New Mexico. General John Pershing pursued Villa back to Mexico, with Baker part of his force. He was doing extensive work in engineering in Mexico for Hearst's and other large land owners when the revolution intervened. Baker was mustered out as a Sergeant and was in that rank when the United States entered the First World War. He enlisted as a Private and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant at the Engineer Officers Training Camp in Leavenworth, Kansas in the Summer of 1917, the first officers training school. He was assigned to the 315th Engineers and posted to Company A. First Lieutenant Baker embarked New York aboard the S.S. Olympic on June 14, 1918, arriving in England shortly thereafter, soon entering the French theatre. In France, he served with the 315th Engineer Battalion, 90th Infantry Division (Texas-Oklahoma). First Lieutenant Ralph Welcome Baker, Company A, 315th Engineer Battalion was awarded the Purple Heart, as he was wounded in the knee by a splinter while diving into a trench, as his unit was under attack, on September 20, 1918 near Fey-en-Haye in northeastern France. The incident is recorded in the unit's history: "As the first shell burst we stopped drinking coffee, but at the second one we mounted helmets and at the third one there was nothing left in the kitchen except the butter dish; he, being the strongest, held his ground. Immediately adjacent to the kitchen was an old German trench; this trench had refuse of every description thrown in it, but it made no difference to that gang; we dived into it pell-mell and scattered east and west. Lieutenant Baker was wounded in the knee by a splinter and our cook, Oquin, received a nasty little gash in the jaw." by General Orders: No. 124 of December 18, 1918.
A report from Headquarters, 90th Division, AEF in France, dated October 22, 1918, by General Orders No. 135 stated: "The Division Commander desires to express his appreciation of the services rendered by the Officers and men of this Division in the St. Mihiel drive on September 12, 1918, and following days. While it is, perhaps, invidious to make special mention of anywhere the whole did so well, he yet feels that the results obtained were influenced, in a large measure by the bearing and example of the following Officers and men who are specifically cited as indicated". One of these was "First Lieutenant Ralph W. Baker, Company A, 315th Engineers - On September 12, 1918, Lieutenant Baker, during a reconnaissance, found a platoon of Infantry leaderless, lost as to direction and useless. He took command of the platoon, and brought it back into liaison with its Battalion Commander." This would become the basis for Baker's citation for his Silver Star. The report continued: "Officers and men of Company A, 315th Engineers - For more than sixty hours, during the first three days of the attack, September 12, 1918, neither Officers nor men of Company A slept or stopped working. They improved lines of communication to the extreme front and moved forward large quantities of material. They never once forgot their main duty.", signed by Major-General Henry T. Allen. First Lieutenant Ralph Welcome Baker, Company A, 315th Engineers, 90th Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Forces was awarded the Silver Star, his citation stating: "By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), First Lieutenant (Corps of Engineers) Ralph W. Baker, United States Army, is cited by the Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him. First Lieutenant Baker distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with Company A, 315th Engineers, American Expeditionary Forces, in action 1 November 1918, in the Argonne-Meuse Sector, in going to the aid of some of his men who had been wounded and carrying them to a place of safety through heavy enemy fire." by General Orders: GHQ, American Expeditionary Forces, Citation Orders No. 5 (June 3, 1919). Baker was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre (War Cross) for bravery in building a bridge across the Andon River near Bantheville, France in the Argonne, while under fire. Upon the ceasing of hostilities, he remained in Germany for six months as part of the occupational forces. When Captain Millender became ill, Lieutenant Baker (later Captain Baker, as of April 1919) was named Assistant to the Division Engineer in February 1919 and served in that capacity throughout the remainder of the post-war during the Army of Occupation.
He remained in France as Assistant to the Office of the Chief Engineer in Paris. Upon his return to the United States, he was discharged in San Antonio, Texas. Post-war, Baker studied engineering at the University of California, where he specialized in highway engineering. He returned to Texas, where he became Assistant Resident Engineer in Ellis County in 1919-1920. He then went into road building, with his first work involving the planning of the Newman road and other county road work in El Paso County, as a Civil Engineer and County Surveyor. He moved to Big Spring, Texas, where he built the three gravel roads that lead out of town. Between 1920 and 1923, he became County Engineer for Howard, Martin, Midland and Ector Counties, constructing one hundred miles of the Bankhead Highway at a cost of $750,000. Ralph Welcome Baker married Rebafaye Orenbaum at First Baptist Church in Big Spring, Texas on July 10, 1924. The wedding ceremony was followed by an informal reception held at her parent's home. The newly married couple then began a two month tour of Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Baker was promoted to Division Engineer and was stationed at Lubbock, Texas until 1928. He then took a position on the staff of Texas Power and Engineering in Dallas, Texas for the next three years. He returned to Big Spring in 1931, to open his own engineering practice, specializing in large-scale property surveys. He then became a District Engineer with the Texas State Highway Department and retained his reserve commission. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was called to active duty in April 1942, in the rank of Captain and ordered to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he spent the next five years supervising military construction, largely in the southwest. By 1945, Baker was now a Major and had been stationed at Fort Sill for three years, assuming the duties of Post Ordnance Officer, upon succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel James Black. At various times he had held the posts of Executive Officer to the Post Ordnance Officer, Ordnance Property Officer, Control Officer of the Combined Maintenance shops and Ordnance Maintenance Officer.
He kept up his reserve duties until his retirement in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on November 15, 1953, completing thirty-three years and four months service. For his service, he would be awarded the American Defense Service Medal. Baker was considered one of the outstanding authorities on West Texas land surveys and was unopposed for the office of Howard County surveyor for thirty-four years. He was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a 32nd Degree Consistory Mason, a member of the York Rite and Commandery, as well as being a Shriner. Ralph Welcome Baker was a resident of Big Spring, Howard County, Texas when he died on April 30, 1974, of an apparent heart attack, at the age of 83. His funeral services were held at Nailey-Pickle Rosewood Chapel, followed by his burial in Trinity Memorial Park in Big Spring on May 2nd. His obituary appeared in the Big Spring Herald on Wednesday, May 1, 1974.