838483 Pte. John Wesley Baker was born in Hanover, a village in the South West corner of Grey County, Ontario.
Attesting to the 147th Battalion on January 6th, 1916, John served with 'D' Company.
Billeted locally over the winter the 147th Battalion mobilized in Owen Sound in the spring of 1916 and left for training at Camp Niagara. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June.
In September of 1916, the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain on November 14th 1916, on the S.S. Olympic.
On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion. On February 12th, 1917, John Wesley was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. and served with the unit through the Battle of Arras that saw the Canadian Corps storm Vimy Ridge.
John was wounded on September 5th, soon after the Battle of Hill 7O, while the unit was manning the front lines around Loos.
Transferring to the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in May of 1918, Pte. John Wesley Baker returned to the unit for demobilization and to be struck off strength on 24th May 1919.
Biography details credit: George Auer