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Show Milford Boy Killed In Attu Fighting; First In County Corporal W i 1 1 i a m Othello "Thel" Baker, 28, son of William and Edna Hutchin-js Baker of Milford, is Beaver county's first service man in World War II to be reported killed in action. Word from the war department, stating that he had been killed in action May 2!) in the North American theatre of operations, was received Monday by his wife, Rachel Lay-ton Lay-ton Baker, at the home of her parents in Woods Cross, and relayed re-layed on to Milford to the Bakei.?. Nothing more was given in the message but it stated that further details would be sent when avail- i able. However, it is quite defi-! nitely established that his death j came in the assault by American infantry on Jap forces on Attu island, farthest west of the Aleu-; tian islands. The last letter from Thel to his parents, dated May 3, : was passed by an army censor, but bore a navy postmark, which would seem to indicate that he . was aboard ship on his way to Attu at the time he wrote the letter. Official Associated Press ' dispatches from Washington in the daily press of May 31 told of the final conquest of Attu after 20 days of bitter figihing, simultaneous simul-taneous with an official Jap communique com-munique acknowledging loss of the island. From this, it would seem that Thel, of whose fighting qualities there could be no doubt, was in the heaviest of the fighting. fight-ing. There was some confusion when news of Corporal Baker's death first came to be known, the daily press .giving North Africa as the zone of action. It would seem that this was a misstatement, however, as word received by his wife from relatives and friends of other officers and men who were known to have been in Thel's unit indicated, without a doulbt, that J they were at Attu, one of his close ' pals having preceded him in death I at the hands of the Japs. ' William Othello Baker was born in Minersville January 27, 1915.: The family moved to Milford in! 1920 and Thel grew to manhood here, graduating from the Milford high school with the class of 1933. ' He had "worked: on Saturdays and during vacation periods as delivery deliv-ery boy for the Jefferson Mercantile Mercan-tile company, and on graduation entered the employ of the White j Market. Later he took up farm- Ing. He entered United States a.wny service January 25, 1941 at Fort , Douglas, heading the group mak- ing up the second call for selectees selec-tees from Beaver county. He received re-ceived his training at Fort Ord and San Louis Obispo, California, and retained his identity with the former camp throughout his service ser-vice in the continental United . States though participating in desert maneuvers and also an (Continued on last pare) Milford Boy Killed j (Continued from page 1) ocean cruise, preparatory to embarkation. em-barkation. He was married September 16, 19-11, at Woods Cross to Miss Rachel Laytfon of that place, a relative of Mrs. Sedgwick of Mil-fqrd, Mil-fqrd, with whom she was visiting at the time Thel met her. She had be-en living at Monterey, California Califor-nia for some time prior to March 20, this year, to be near him, returning re-turning to Utah at that time since preparations were then being made for movement of his unit. He was driver of a jeep at one time, during which he wrote The News an interesting 'letter, telling of how he enjoyed his work. All the time he had looked forward to returning to Milford and a farm of his own. Surviving him, in addition to his wife and parents are three brothers and one sister. . Lee Baker, employed in the shipyards at Portland, Oregon; Ray Baker, who has an accounting business of his own at Bakersfield, 'Calif or-nia, or-nia, Helen -Baker, also employed at Br.ke-.-.fleld; and Alfred Glen Baker of T.Hlford. , The wif parents and otiher relatives cf this fine young man have the heartfelt sympathy of hundreds of friends who are fully aware of their gr-at lco in the service of our country. Ray Baker, a Hother, writing The News from Bakersfield, in.-closes in.-closes the following tribute, which he had written as a "part cf the way I feel and an expression of some of mother's and dad's sentiments:" senti-ments:" TO ONE OF US To one of us who has inspired our love By his big heart, his devoted friendship And his helpful hand. To one of us who has unswervingly unswerving-ly done that Which has been asked of him. To one of us who has loyally carried his Beloved citizenship against the enemy. To one of us who has steadfastly fufilled ; His capacity here,-we say: "Adtios until toimioifrow," V |