World War II Honoree

Robert William Baer

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Delphi, Indiana

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Hospital Apprentice First Class. Inducted into the United States Navy September 25, 1940 at Indianapolis, Indiana. Following the completion of his basic military training at the U.S. Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois and Medical Schooling, he was deployed to the Philippine Islands. He was based at the U.S. Naval Base Sixteenth Naval District, assigned to the Canacao Naval Hospital as a Medical Corpsman. Evacuated to the Island of Corregidor AKA: the Rock, linking up with the Fourth Marine Regiment, when the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces invaded the Philippine Islands January 2, 1942. Wednesday, May 6, 1942 he became a captive when Corregidor was seized by the enemy forces. His captors transferred him to the Prisoner of War Camp #3 Old Bilibid Rizal Manila, Luzon Island. Wednesday, October 11, 1944 he boarded the Japanese ‘Hell Ship’ Arisan Maru, Destination Japan via Formosa. Reported Missing in Action or buried at sea Tuesday, October 24, 1944 when the transport was torpedoed and sunk by a U.S. Submarine. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Location: Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines. In his Memory and Honor, this American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice.