Matthew "Matt" Baker (22 February 1921 - 1983) was a US Army Staff Sergeant who served in the US 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.
Biography[]
Matthew Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri on 22 February 1921, the son of Colonel Joseph and Julia Baker. His parents separated in 1927 when Baker was only four, and his father would be posted around the world, contacting Matthew only through letters.
Baker befriended future US Army tank commander George Risner in high school, and they both graduated in 1941 before enlisting on 9 June 1942. They went through basic training together and both volunteered to be paratroopers, but Risner broke his leg in basic training and was put in another training class. Baker was assigned to the 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division two weeks before D-Day. After the leader of 3rd Squad broke his leg in a parachute jump, Staff Sergeant Greg Hassay promoted Corporal Baker to Sergeant and gave him command of the squad. Baker and 3rd Squad jumped over Normandy on 6 June 1944 during "Mission Albany", and they would link up with Sergeant Hassay's squad, cooperating with them for most of D-Day. Baker led his squad through various battles such as the Battle of Vierville, the Battle of Saint-Come-du-Mont, the Battle of Carentan, and the Battle of Bloody Gulch, with many of his squad members being killed. At Bloody Gulch, he was credited with finding the US 2nd Armored Division and bringing it to relieve the pinned-down paratroops, and he was hailed as a hero; in fact, radio operator Kevin Leggett had been the one to contact the armor, although he was not able to hear their replies on his broken radio.
The 101st was withdrawn to England to rest and refit for the rest of the summer of 1944, and Baker's platoon was folded into a new reconnaissance platoon in preparation for Operation Market Garden in September 1944. On 17 September 1944, Baker and his platoon jumped over Son, Holland, and they fought their way through the towns of Son and Eindhoven before being tasked with the defense of "Hell's Highway" from the Germans. It was at this time that Baker, wracked with guilt over the deaths of many squad members (especially Leggett), began to experience hallucinations and lose his mental health. This caused him to fall out with his old friend, Sergeant Joseph Hartsock, and he lost the trust of his men when Mike Dawson forced him to tell the squad how Larry Allen and Michael Garnett had really died at Saint-Come-du-Mont; they had gotten into a fight with Leggett before being killed. However, Baker gave one last speech that recovered the trust of every squad member except for Samuel Corrion, and he threw the cursed "death pistol" (a gift that his father had given to him, which had been held by many squad members who had died) into the woods to dispell any myths about its supernatural nature. After Market Garden, Baker was promoted to Staff Sergeant, and he survived the war.
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