Sergeant William John Baker looks through a periscope in the trenches at Gallipoli. William Baker ...

Sergeant William John Baker looks through a periscope in the trenches at Gallipoli. William Baker was born in Middlesex, England in 1876. At age 18, he joined the 1st Somerset Light Infantry and served in Punjab where he was awarded the India Medal, Punjab Frontier 1897-1898. After eight and a half years of service he was discharged being declared medically unfit for duty due to asthma. He migrated to Australia in 1910. He was working as a telephone mechanic in Brisbane when he enlisted in the AIF on 22 August 1914 aged 34. Following training at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria, he embarked with the 1st Divisional Signal Company from Melbourne aboard HMAT Karroo (A10) on 20 October 1914 and landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. On 2 August, Sgt Baker suffered an asthma attack and while being moved to a clearance station, was rendered unconscious by a nearby shell explosion for several hours. He was evacuated to England and admitted to King George Hospital in London with shell shock on 30 August and discharged to Woodcote Park convalescent camp on 13 September. He was invalided to Australia from England on 7 November 1915 aboard HMAT Runic (A54) and discharged in February of the following year. William John Baker was severely injured on 24 June 1940 when the car in which he was escorting his daughter to her wedding was involved in a crash. He refused to be taken to hospital until the ambulance had had attended to his injured daughter and he died of his injuries the next day. His daughter survived and married later in hospital.