This is a photograph of Sharitt Edward Baker, son of Clarence Edward Baker, a boilermaker at the Santa Fe shops, and Hazel Mae Baker, a homemaker. Sharitt enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an apprentice seaman in 1939 and retired as a chief warrant officer at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD.
During the war, Baker was transferred from the U.S.S. Selfridge to the U.S.S. Ralph Talbot as a third-class petty officer. On December 7, 1941 the U.S.S. Ralph Talbot was in Pearl Harbor, but suffered no casualties. In August 1942, the U.S.S. Ralph Talbot supported the Marine landing at Guadalcanal and fought in the night battle of Savo Island. Next transferred to Portland, England, he was assigned to 30 patrol torpedo boats in Squadrons 34 and 35, which invaded France on D-Day.
Sharitt married Virginia Martin in June, 1942. After the Navy, he worked at the University of California at Berkeley, and at Bobo's restaurant in Topeka, and ran Craft Specialties, also in Topeka.
![]()
