Major Charles G. Baird  (1880-1918) Maple 84

 Charles Baird was born in Philadelphia around 1880. Baird’s most important work was in the railroad service in connection of the opening of the passenger station of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the tubes under the Hudson and East Rivers. He was appointed Division operator in New York in 1910 and was placed in complete charge of the construction and installation of all the signals, telegraph, telephone lines and electrical equipment. He also built the overland lines and equipped ten interlocking block stations, and then organized the operating forces, consisting of train dispatchers, train directors, telegraph operators and signal men.

 For a number of years Baird had been recognized as one of the leading experts in America on matters pertaining to signal equipment for railroads. For twenty years he was connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1910 until he entered into the army. He was in charge of the signal department of the railroad. He was the Chief of The American Phone and Telegraph Service as well.

 He remained in charge of those forces until he got a furlough from the Railroad employ to enter the military service of the United States.

 He entered the army immediately after Congress declared War on Germany and organized the 413th Telegraph Battalion, one of the first Signal Corps units ordered overseas. He recruited and trained employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad that volunteered from all parts of the Lines from New York to Cape Charles, Virginia, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with a few from the lines west of the latter City. All but one of the Officers were Pennsylvania Railroad men.

 He received a citation for bravery for picking up and saving wounded men around Monastir during heavy shelling in 1917.

 Major Baird died of heart disease overseas when he was in charge of the American Expeditionary Force in France at the age of 38. He left a widow and son.

 Mrs. Baird received a cablegram of condolences from Brigadeer General Edgar Russell, Chief Signal Officer on General Pershing’s staff, in which he referred to Major Baird as a “most able and competent officer, who bore the respect of all who knew him.”