Carl Adolph Baehr Jr. was born on November 7, 1912, in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was the son of Carl A. Baehr and Emilie B. Baehr. He spent his grade school years in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. He completed high school in Hawaii and Lawton, Oklahoma, where he was a member of both the National and Oklahoma Honor Societies. After spending a year at Millard’s Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., he entered the U.S. Military Academy on July 1, 1932. After graduating from West Point in 1936, he was assigned to the 14th Cavalry at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, actively participating in polo, horse shows, and the local Boy Scout troop. In June 1938, he transferred to the 3rd Field Artillery at the same post, serving for two weeks under his father, Brigadier General Carl A. Baehr.

In April 1939, Carl departed for the Philippine Islands, where he was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg. He served with the 24th Field Artillery and later helped to organize the 88th Field Artillery shortly before the Japanese invasion of Luzon. During the defense of the Luzon central plain and the Battle of Bataan, he led the 1st Battalion, 88th Field Artillery. Captured after the fall of Bataan, Carl endured over two and a half years as a prisoner at Cabanatuan. He was later placed aboard the Oryoku Maru, a transport ship bound for Japan, and was reported lost when the ship was sunk on December 15, 1944. His body was never recovered.

Maj Baehr's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil