WWI Shoulder PatchSergeant Cloyd BakerWWI Shoulder Patch

ABOVE: 84th Infantry Division WWI Shoulder Patch (click on image for larger format)

Company C, 326th Machine Gun Battalion, 84th Infantry Division

Service: Oct 4 1917 to  May 5 1919

March 11 1890 to August 31 1981

American Legion

Click on image for larger format

Postwar photo of Clyde Baker in his American Legion cap

Chronology

1890

Born: March 11.

1917


June 5: Registered for the draft.

Enlisted:October 4.

Unit Photo

Company C, 326th Machine Gun Battalion, 84th Infantry Division

Undated photo, appears to be in training in the U.S in 1917 or 1918.

1
918

Deployed to France: October 3.

Undated passenger list for unknown ship, Hoboken Port of Embarkation with Corporal Clo
yd Baker.

The 84th served in France as a training center for replacements heading toward the Western Front during World War I,

By October 3, Cloyd Baker had been in training for one year.

American units after arriving in France usually received an additional six weeks of training before being deployed to combat.

Six weeks after October 3 is November 14, three days after the November Armistice.

Baker Family Oral History

Gas Attack

The Baker family oral history is that he had been gassed.

Tons of mustard gas shells were on the battlefields

Sgt. Baker could have easily come in contact with mustard gas other than in a gas attack in combat.

In cold weather, mustard gas can linger for months.

Mustard gas can travel for miles.

Mustard gas can leak from from unexploded gas shells

Or Sgt. Baker could have been rushed into combat as a replacement with less than six weeks training and come under gas attack

Occupation of Germany

The Baker family oral history is that his unit was among the first to be deployed east of the Rhine River on occupation duty.

That suggests that he was assigned as a replacement to one of the four divisions that served on occupation duty.

Additional research is required.

1919

Returned from France: Unknown

The 84th returned to the U.S. to be demobilized in 1919.

The 84th was disbanded after World War I.

Discharged: May 5.

Discharge date is consistent with the return May 1919 return of the first division from the occupation of Germany (see For More Information below).

1981

Died:
Aug 31 1981

Buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver, Colorado, Section S  Site 4537.

Headstone

For More information

84th Division

84th Division History by the 84th Railsplitters Association

Training of American Troops in France

Occupation of Germany

"Representative of a Victorious People": The Doughboy Watch on the Rhine by Alexander F. Barnes


All material not in the public domain Copyright 2021 Leonard H. Cizewski and Geoffrey Baker

Last Major Update June 9, 2021
Minor Revision: June 23, 2021
Posted: June 8, 2021
Last Reviewed:

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Acknowledgement: Cloyd Baker's grandson Geoffrey Baker assisted in composing this page.

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