Karl Roland Baertschy

Baertschy enlisted in 1942 after finishing CPT training at UW-Madison. He received pilot training while living on campus. He and 45 other Naval reservists flew out of Morey Airport near Middleton. He did 3 months of training in Iowa and received more pilot training at Wold-Chamberlain Airport in Minneapolis. He received his commission at Corpus Christi on July 10, 1943, where he specialized in dive-bombing. He penned a letter to his former instructor at UW-Madison, Frederick L. Caudle, in which he said, “I can’t help but repeat how much the University of Wisconsin CPT program did to help us in our ground school.” Baertschy served onboard the USS Essex (CV-9), USS Intrepid (CV-11), and the USS Yorktown (CV-10) during his time as a pilot on an SB2C Helldiver bomber. Lieutenant Baertschy was killed when his SB2C was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire over Luzon on Jan. 7, 1945. Both Baertschy and his radio-operator, Arm3 Morgan Edmonson, were killed. Neither Baertschy’s nor Edmonson’s remains have been recovered. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.