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| | PVT. BENJAMIN F. BAXTER
Serial No. 2,983,700
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Inducted June 25, 1918. He was a distiller by trade and a chemist by inclination. At Coetquidan he acted many times as guard over the ammunition dump, many times walking his post in drenching rain and plodding patiently through mud.
When the Battery was on its long hike from Farm Vaurot to the lines, strict orders were given to keep to the right of the road. Baxter, prompted by curiosity, was wont to step out of the lines here and there, which so annoyed the Captain that for the purpose of morale, he said the first man out of line again would be put into the infantry. Baxter immediately at the top of his voice, said: “Put me in the infantry.” Organization in the army seems to acquire a certain provincialism and there was a disinclination to being transferred. Baxter later learned at the Tautecourt position that he was in a new kind of infantry—the heavy infantry, as the boys called it. There he acted a gas guard and guard over cannoneers. He performed his work ungrudgingly and was companionable with his comrades. At Pont-a-Mousson he was a member of the Provost Guard under Sergt. Reddaway. Baxter was well built, strong and of resolute will. |