Editor’s note: This tribute is one in a series of reader-submitted tributes to World War II-era veterans that will be posted during September.

FIREMAN 1ST CLASS BILL J. BAKER, USN

Hometown: Pineville, Kentucky.

Branch: U.S. Navy.

Years of service: 1942-45.

Highest rank attained: Fireman first class.

Significant duty stations or deployments during the War: Stationed in the Solomon Islands on the USS President Adams (APA-19). In 1942, while fighting on Guadalcanal, he received shrapel wounds in the shoulder and legs from bombs dropped by Japanese war planes.

POST-WAR CAREER: Truck driver supplying food to nursing homes.