GUY BALDWIN, JR., 2LT, USA
Guy Baldwin, Jr. '39
Guy Baldwin, Jr. was admitted to the Naval Academy from Kentucky on June 22, 1935 at age 18 years 9 months.
He resigned February 18, 1937 because he was "Deficient in studies, first term's work. Recommended to be dropped. Permitted to resign. Also had been disqualified at annual physical examination."
Loss
Guy was lost on July 15, 1944 in Normandy, France, when he was killed by German artillery fire while attempting to repair a telephone wire. He was a part of the 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division.
Other Information
A history of the 2nd Infantry Regiment from 9 July 1944 to 9 May 1945 lists Guy as a Private. If the listing of his unit at time of death is accurate, perhaps he had been reassigned based on a battlefield commission.
In the 1930 census he lived in Nelson County, Kentucky, with his parents Guy Sr, age 48 a farmer, mother Marguerite 41, brothers Alvin B 16, Thomas 8 and Ridgley 6.
He entered the Army as a Private on February 13, 1941; his civilian occupation was listed as "laboratory technician and assistant" and he was single without dependents.
Service number: O1320583.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
In 1940 Guy was a chemist at a distillery in Louisville. He had finished one year of college. That year he bowled a 232 and won the Bernheim Distillery honor in the Louisville League. The year before he had a high score of 251. His father sold his 196-acre farm northwest of Bardstown and moved to Louisville, and Guy enlisted in the Army on February 13, 1941.
Although the 2nd Regiment listed Guy as a private, he must have transferred to the 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, XIX Corps, when it landed in Normandy five days after D-Day. Major Leland S. Hobbs was in command, and the Regiment moved south toward St-Ló. Climbing over, under and around the hedgerows delayed their advance. One never knew which hedgerows were occupied by Germans and their machine guns. On July 14, in conjunction with an attack launched on the east bank of the Vire River, the 30th Division, finally secured the bridge at Pont-Hébert. The next day the big push to Saint-Lô commenced.
From Old Hickory: The 30th Division, by Robert W. Baumer, page 132: On July 15, 244 men were lost. “When artillery shells broke the wires to Lieutenant Colonel McDowell’s forward position south of Hauts-Vents that morning, several of these casualties resulted.” Major William V. Crowe asked what happened. “They were all killed fixing that phone line,” a sergeant told him. “They had gone about two hundred yards, and found the break in the wire. They were all spread out, and then three shells dropped in. It was all over in one big flash.” Lieutenant Buttler, who overhead the difficult conversation, remembered: “The quiet-spoken, all around gentleman, Lieutenant Guy Baldwin, was not with us any longer. He had gone on a job which could easily have been assigned to a non-com.”
Another book describes the XIX Corps advance at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-A-StLo/USA-A-StLo-5.html and a 60-minute video is available at http://www.combatreels.com/30th_Infantry_Division_Normandy_DVD.cfm
He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France.
Memorial Hall Error
There are two different listings that give his rank as 2LT; Memorial Hall has 1LT.
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