Baker, Addison E.
Army Lieutenant colonel

Addison E. Baker, age 36, from Ohio, Cuyahoga county.

Service era: World War II
Military history: Medal of Honor

Date of death: Sunday, August 1, 1943
Death details: On April 8, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Addison E. Baker, missing from World War II. Lieutenant Colonel Baker entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Ohio and was Commanding Officer of Headquarters, 93rd Bombardment Group. On August 1, 1943, he piloted “Hell’s Wench,” a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-40999) that took off from Libya to lead Operation TIDAL WAVE, a large-scale low-level bombing mission against oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania. As Hell’s Wench approached Ploesti, it was struck and seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Rather than land and break up the lead formation, LTC Baker continued flying and successfully bombarded the target. Despite the pilot’s best efforts, Hell’s Wench then crashed into the town of Ploesti, burning on impact. The entirety of the aircraft’s ten man crew was killed in the incident. Immediately after the war, the remains of five of these men were recovered and identified; however, LTC Baker was not among them. Unidentifiable remains that were recovered from Ploesti after the war were buried as unknown remains at U.S. military cemeteries in Europe. In 2017, the DPAA began efforts to exhume and reexamine unknown remains associated with Operation TIDAL WAVE. A set of unknown remains that had been interred in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré, Belgium, was accessioned into the DPAA laboratory as part of this effort. Laboratory analysis enabled the DPAA to successfully identify the remains as those of LTC Baker.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery, Italy

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Ohio Historical Society