A Kerrville Story: My brother, Sidney Baker, killed in [World] War One.

Walter Sidney Baker, around 1917.
Click on any image to enlarge.

A poignant photograph crossed my desk this week.

It’s a photograph of a soldier, printed on a picture postcard, and mounted in a paper frame. 

The young man is wearing the World War I American uniform: overseas (or possibly campaign) hat, woolen shirt and breeches plus a tie, canvas leggings, and boots. His arms are akimbo, and he’s posing with his hips slightly at an angle. The overall look is very jaunty and relaxed.

It’s the handwritten inscription which tells the rest of the story.

“Sidney Baker/ my brother killed in [World] War One.” Because of writing on the reverse of the photo, I believe it was originally owned by Lucy Eliza Baker Michon, Sidney’s older sister.

Sidney Baker, for whom one of the principal streets in Kerrville is named, died in France on October 15, 1918.

Walter Sidney Baker was born to Benjamin F. Baker and Elizabeth Peterson Baker in 1896 in Gonzales County, Texas, one of 11 children. His father was a carpenter and farmer, and helped build the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad line into Kerrville. The family moved to Kerrville in the 1880s, moved away to Gonzales County, where Sidney Baker was born, and then returned to Kerrville in 1904.

Like Francisco Lemos, Sidney Baker enlisted in Company D, First Texas Infantry, a unit of the Texas National Guard.

Company D had been recruited by Captain Charles J. Seeber, and in the spring and summer of 1917, the company drilled on the grounds of Westminster Encampment, just east of town. The grounds of the encampment are now part of the campus of Schreiner University. The company also drilled on the West Texas Fairgrounds site, which was across Town Creek south of the Five Points area, between Junction Highway and the river. For the most part, the drills were practiced without weapons or equipment, and many of the men did not have regulation uniforms.

Company D departed Kerrville by train on September 5, 1917, heading to Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth.

It was a sad day for everyone, but especially young Sidney Baker. He was saying goodbye to his steady girlfriend, a young woman named Daphne Williams.

Years ago, Bill Sloan, a former editor of this newspaper, shared some of his research on Sidney Baker. That research was based on Baker family correspondence.

Sidney Baker joined the National Guard unit on the advice of his older brothers, Frank and Ira. Having worked as a helper for his father, and also as a seasonal worker on the Peterson Ranch, Sidney was attracted to the prospect of a steady income. 

According to Sloan's research, Sidney Baker was a reluctant soldier. After basic training at Camp Bowie, he was promoted to PFC, "but a few weeks later, after getting into an altercation with another recruit, he was busted back to buck private, and he never received another promotion."

A planned visit to Kerrville to see Daphne Williams was canceled when an "old sergeant wouldn't let me off, so there was nothing I could do."

Again, according to Sloan's research, Sidney Baker sought a hardship release to help his mother, who was in financial difficulties. "Please do everything you can to get me out of this Army life," Baker wrote his mother, "and tell all the Kerrville boys to take a d----d fool's advice and stay out of the Army."

Then, in March 1918, when Baker was in New York awaiting transport to Europe, Daphne Williams broke off their relationship.

On March 25, 1918, Sidney Baker wrote his mother, before leaving for France.

"I guess we are leaving tomorrow for France, but we sure had lots of trouble trying to get started. Daph sure has gone back on me, and I had just as soon the whole German army shoot at me as for to do that. You tell Daph what I said when you see her and ask her to keep writing to me and I will fix things when the war is over."

Baker left the States on the Finland, on July 26, 1918. The Finland was the same ship which carried Francisco Lemos to Europe.

The war in Europe was a long way from Kerrville.

When the war was over, on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, Elizabeth Baker, Sidney Baker's mother, was so happy. Kerrville was celebrating the end of the war. 

On that same day wrote to Sidney "I write to let you know we have received the news that we have peace, and I was never as happy in my life. Oh, if I could just be with you to rejoice, but I have the pleasure of thinking you won't be killed now."

Two days later, on November 13, 1918, she received a telegram informing her that Sidney Baker had been killed during the bloody fighting near Hill 288 in the Argonne. While all of Kerrville was celebrating on November 11, Elizabeth Baker did not know her son was dead.

That Sidney Baker was a reluctant soldier does not mean he was not brave. He was very brave, and was involved in some of the heaviest fighting American soldiers saw during the war. 

Of the three Kerr County men who died in battle in World War I, he survived the longest, living until the last weeks of the war. Of the three, he was the youngest to die; he was only 22.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who collects Kerrville and Kerr County historical items. If you have something you’d care to share with him, it would make him very happy. This column originally appeared in the Kerrville Daily Times December 16, 2023.

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