17 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca BACK, Lawrence WWII Lawrence Back enlisted in the Army in 1941 with the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He transferred to the American Special Service and was taken Prisoner of War. He received his discharge in 1945. BAKER, Brien J. PEACETIME Having many friends that were being drafted for the Vietnam War from the U.S. border town of Oroville, Washington, Brien decided that joining the Canadian Armed Forces would be the thing to do. An outdoor boy from small town Oliver, British Columbia, he joined up on his seventeenth birthday, seeking adventure and wanting to contribute in some small way. The five months of Boot Camp at CFB Shilo was not exactly what he had in mind but that was the Army, and he adjusted. Completing his trade training in December 1967, Gunner Baker was posted to 3 RCHA in Winnipeg. There, he was employed as plotting technician in the Battery Command Post. In the summer of 1968, his Battery was sent to Belgium on a NATO competition. This was Gunner Baker’s first taste of adventure and German beer. In the fall of 1968, Brien was posted to Germany with the SSM Battery (Surface to Surface Missile). Baker was employed as Arming Specialist on the ‘Honest John Missile’ until the Minister of Defence decided the Honest John was an ineffective weapon in this modem age of arms and disbanded the outfit. He remained in Europe with 1 RCHA as driver of a L-I09 Howitzer, and radio operator until the summer of 1970, when a posting came in for Shilo, Canada. Gunner Baker was released from the Armed Forces in May 1971, on completion of his five years of duty. He surpassed his goal of adventure and settled down to married life. Brien and his wife Lynda of Fisher Branch had two children, Darren and Christopher. Darren joined the Engineering Corps of the Armed Forces in 1988 and was posted to CFB Shilo. His youngest son, Chris, was killed in a traffic accident in 1989. Brien re-enlisted in the Reserves and received his Queen’s commission in the Armed Forces in 1987. He attained the rank of Lt. and was the CO of 158 RCACS. Brien farmed in the Hodgson area.
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