Benjamin George Baum
Corporal Benjamin G. Baum served with Baker Company, First Battalion, 4th Marines.
He was captured at Corregidor and died while a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan, Philippine Islands, on 27 June 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Regular
Service Number 265672
Current Status
Remains not recovered.
Pursuit Category
This case is under Active Pursuit by the DPAA.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
April 29, 1919
at Grasonville, MD
Parents
David Milton Baum
Lillian (Miller) Baum
later Lillian Sutherland
Education
Details unknown
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
Service Life
Entered Service
June 9, 1938
at Washington, DC
Home Of Record
Chicamuxen, MD
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Lillian Sutherland
Military Specialty
—
Primary Unit
B/1/4th Marines
Campaigns Served
Philippine Islands / Corregidor
Individual Decorations
Silver Star
Purple Heart
Prisoner of War Medal
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
Corporal Benjamin Baum, a pre-war China Marine of several years service, was stationed in the Philippine Islands when the United States entered World War II. He served with distinction during the campaign for the Philippines and Corregidor, particularly during a Japanese bombing attack on 25 March 1942. Baum joined a volunteer firefighting force extinguishing flames in a burning barracks building; for his gallantry under fire, he was awarded the Army’s Silver Star Medal.
Baum was captured in the fall of Corregidor on 6 May 1942, and held as a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan Camp #1, Nueva Ecija province. Unsanitary living conditions, harsh treatment by guards, and a starvation diet took a rapid toll on the prisoners of war, and Baum contracted dysentery shortly after arriving at the camp. He was hospitalized, but without proper medicine there was little the doctors could do. The 23-year-old Marine died at 0100 hours on 27 June 1942.
Burial Information or Disposition
Benjamin Baum was buried in a mass grave in Cabanatuan’s prison cemetery – but unfortunately, the exact location was not recorded at the time.
Graves Registration personnel working in Manila after the war noticed this omission as it affected several men who died and were buried between June 26 – 28, 1942. After making a few successful identifications, they concluded that most of the deceased were likely buried in Graves 1001 and 406 – but were unable to individually identify nineteen remains from that time period.
There is a high likelihood that Baum is currently buried in Manila under a marker reading “unknown.”
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Lillian Sutherland.
Location Of Loss
Corporal Baum died at Cabanatuan Camp #1.
