| Home State | Civilian Occupation |
| Delaware | Chemist’s assistant |
| Branch | Service Number |
| U.S. Army | 32167427 |
| Theater | Assignment |
| Zone of Interior (American) | 3303rd Service Unit (Army Specialized Training) |
Early Life & Family
Harvey Lewis Baldwin was born in Mill Creek Hundred, most likely in the Corner Ketch area north of Newark, Delaware. He was the eldest son of William Chandler Baldwin (at the time a farmer, 1892–1954) and Erma Baldwin (née Pennock, 1895–1955). He had five younger brothers and two younger sisters.
The Baldwin family was recorded on the 1920 census living on a farm in Mill Creek Hundred. By the time of the 1930 census, the family had moved to Yorklyn Creek Road in Christiana Hundred. Baldwin’s father was now a mill superintendent. The next census in 1940 found the Baldwin family living in Yorklyn. Baldwin was described as an optical glass grinder and his father as a mill general manager.
An August 26, 1943, article in The Newark Post stated that Baldwin “was a graduate of the Alexis I. duPont High School, and studied medicine at the University of Alabama.” Baldwin worked as a chemist’s assistant prior to his military service.
When he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, Baldwin was living in Yorklyn and working at the Hercules Powder Company in nearby Wilmington. At the time, the registrar described him as standing six feet, one inch tall and weighing 200 lbs., with brown hair and gray eyes.
According to an individual military service record filled out by his wife for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission, Baldwin participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (R.O.T.C.) while attending the University of Alabama. He completed three years of college according to his enlistment record. His wife stated that his address was 328 East Main Street in Newark at the time he entered the military.
Military Career
Baldwin was drafted before the U.S. entered World War II. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in Trenton, New Jersey, on August 8, 1941. Initially, he was attached to Company “C,” 1229th Reception Center at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Department.
According to his wife’s statement, Private Baldwin went on active duty in September 1941 at the Station Hospital at Fort Jay, on Governors Island, New York. She also wrote that he was promoted to technician 5th grade in June 1942.
Baldwin married Dorothy Mae Dawson (1915–1999) in Newark on the afternoon of June 20, 1942. Based on his wife’s statement, beginning on or around July 1, 1942, Technician 5th Grade Baldwin was stationed at the Southern New York Recruiting and Induction Station at 39 Whitehall Street in New York City.
On November 4, 1942, Baldwin joined the staff of the U.S. Army General Dispensary, New York City, also located at 39 Whitehall Street. Referring to this assignment, the August 26, 1943, article in The Newark Post stated that “he served as a Laboratory Technician at the Army General Dispensary in New York City.”
Baldwin was promoted to technician 4th grade on February 11, 1943. He was sick in quarters during April 16–19, 1943. On May 1, 1943, Baldwin was placed on temporary duty with the Specialized Training and Reassignment (S.T.A.R.) Detachment, 3204th Station Complement Service Unit (S.C.S.U.) at the College of the City of New York, to evaluate whether he was a suitable candidate for the Army Specialized Training Program (A.S.T.P.). Soldiers in the A.S.T.P. took accelerated courses with the intention supplying the Army with valuable skills, particularly in languages and the sciences.
After passing the selection process, Baldwin was ordered to report to the Army Specialized Training Unit at Pennsylvania State College (now Pennsylvania State University) in State College, Pennsylvania, on May 22, 1943, “to pursue course of instruction in Chemical Engineering Term 4A[.]” From that date onward, Technician 4th Grade Baldwin was attached unassigned to the 3303rd Service Unit (Army Specialized Training) at Pennsylvania State College. Under the U.S. Army’s administrative procedures, Baldwin and several hundred soldiers studying there were attached to the 3303rd, but only a handful of cadremen were actually considered to be members of that unit.
Technician 4th Grade Baldwin became ill on August 19, 1943. Although he was treated at the Pennsylvania State College Infirmary, he died within an hour. The official cause of death was listed as coronary thrombosis. He was just 26 years old.
Technician 4th Grade Baldwin was buried at the Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church Cemetery in New Castle County, Delaware. His widow remarried to L. Martin Howard (1911–1982) on January 1, 1946. She died in Florida in 1999, aged 82.
Notes
Birthplace
Various sources give different places of birth for Baldwin. His birth certificate described his birthplace as the vicinity of Hockessin, while his draft card listed his birthplace as Newark. His wife’s statement listed Corner Ketch, an area about midway between downtown Newark and Hockessin. Even today, the division of unincorporated New Castle County north of Newark and south of Hockessin is fairly nebulous. In modern times, the U.S. Postal Service effectively placed a dividing line between the two largely following Little Baltimore Road, but such a hard division did not exist at the time these earlier documents were made.
Grade
The Delaware memorial volume published just after the war erroneously referred to Baldwin as a technical sergeant rather than as a technician 4th grade.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Delaware Public Archives for the use of their photo of Technician 4th Grade Baldwin.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Dorothy D. Individual Military Service Record for Harvey Lewis Baldwin. May 20, 1946. Record Group 1325-003-053, Record of Delawareans Who Died in World War II. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://cdm16397.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15323coll6/id/17575
Certificate of Birth for Harvey Lewis Baldwin. Undated, c. February 16, 1917. Record Group 1500-008-094, Birth Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTMW-8L1
Census Record for Harvey A. Baldwin. May 15, 1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MR-MV9
Census Record for H. Lewis Baldwin. April 5, 1920. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R6W-8N9
Census Record for H. Lewis Baldwin, May 5, 1930. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHM-7XT
Certificate of Death for Harvey L. Baldwin. August 19, 1943. Pennsylvania Death certificates, 1906–1967. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42342_2421401696_0646-00116
Certificate of Marriage for Harvey Lewis Baldwin and Dorothy Mae Baldwin. June 20, 1942. Delaware Marriages. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61368/images/TH-266-12586-42431-87
Certificate of Marriage for L. Martin Howard and Dorothy D. Baldwin. January 1, 1946. Delaware Marriages. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61368/images/TH-267-12666-61014-80
Draft Registration Card for Harvey Lewis Baldwin. October 16, 1940. Draft Registration Cards for Delaware, October 16, 1940 – March 31, 1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMG-X9TQ-1
Enlistment Record for Harvey L. Baldwin. World War II Army Enlistment Records. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. https://aad.archives.gov/aad/display-partial-records.jsp?f=3475&mtch=1&q=32167427&cat=all&dt=893&tf=F
“Funeral for Sergeant Will Be Held Monday.” Journal-Every Evening, August 21, 1943. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78749164/baldwin-funeral/
“Heart Attack Fatal to Baldwin.” The Newark Post, August 26, 1943. https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/18890/np_034_29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
“Howard, Dorothy M.” St. Petersburg Times, May 8, 1999. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57513794/harvey-l-baldwins-widows-obituary/
Morning Reports for 3303rd Service Unit. August 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1943-08/85713825_1943-08_Roll-0115/85713825_1943-08_Roll-0115-05.pdf, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2840/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2840-07.pdf
Morning Reports for Company “B,” 3303rd Service Unit (Army Specialized Training Unit). May 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-3063/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-3063-26.pdf
Morning Reports for Company “C,” 1229th Reception Center. August 1941. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2840/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2840-06.pdf
Morning Reports for General Dispensary, New York City. November 1942 – May 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2990/85713825_1940-01-thru-1943-07_Roll-2990-16.pdf
“Yorklyn Soldier Dies At State College, Pa.” Journal-Every Evening, August 20, 1943. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57458542/harvey-lewis-baldwin/
Last updated on October 6, 2024
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