Hobey Baker (1892 – 1918)
HOBART AMORY HARE BAKER
CAPTAIN 141ST AERO SQUADRON, AEF
DIED AT TOUL, FRANCE, DECEMBER 21, 1918
AGED 26 YEARS
“You who seemed winged, even as a lad,
With that swift look of those who know the sky,
It was no blundering fate that stooped and bade
You break your wings, and fall to earth and die,
I think some day you may have flown too high,
So that immortals saw you and were glad,
Watching the beauty of your spirits flame,
Until they loved and called you, and you came.”
Inscription on Hobart (Hobey) Baker’s (1892-1918) tombstone, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, PA.
The poem is attributed to Amory Hare (in The Princeton Alumni Weekly, Vol. XIX, April 9, 1919, p. 530) or Baker’s mother. Baker is considered one of the great athletes of the early 20th century, inducted into the hockey and football halls of fame, the only individual so honored.
The Hobey Baker Award is collegiate hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Michael Lemon Portfolio 
Thank you, Doc Snafu, for the background information – much appreciated.
December 21 (Saturday). This has been a sad day, but as in wartime it is a case of ending up with ‘Here’s to the next one that dies’. I was flying the dual-control ‘Avro’ at the Toul field this morning with Krout. We were just coming in for a landing when a Spad started out, giving us a little bump from the wash of its propeller as it left the ground, I landed, stopped, and was about to take off again when Krout said ‘The Spad crashed’. I looked around and there it was, lying on the field, not far from us. We taxied over, and I helped get the pilot out – had to use an axe to get his feet loose. He probably died as he was lying on the stretcher. His face was badly cut up, and it was not until someone said ‘It is Capt Baker’, that I realized it was Hobey Baker, C0 of the 141st Pursuit Squadron.
Baker, the former captain of the Princeton football team, one of the best if not the best hockey player in the US, came to the front with the 94th last February, and was transferred to the Lafayette (103rd) where he made a great reputation – then came here as C0 of the 141st, the first Pursuit Squadron to join the 2nd Army Air Service. He was anxious to get home – finally, yesterday, his order came, he was going out for a farewell spin in his Spad, shot up, the motor evidently died and he was too low to recover so crashed on the field. (According to Mr. Royal Frey, a member of the US Air Force Museum Staff and a leading authority on the Air Service in World War I, Baker was Flying to Nancy to pick up a new uniform before leaving for the States.
(extract eucmh.com War Diary Frank Lahm)