Clayton Baum was born in 1943 and lived in Ohio. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army and few days after D-Day he entered France at Utah Beach, in Normandy.

Technician 4th Grade Clayton B. Baum, U.S. Army, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in June 1923 into a family with one brother, Kenneth. He later moved to Brecksville, Ohio where he graduated from Brecksville High School in 1941. After a semester at Kent State University Clayton was drafted into the U.S. Army in February 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio. His did basic and Advanced Training in Vancouver, Washington and Camp Sutton, North Carolina respectively. He deployed to England in October 1943 where he was an Arms Instructor. In mid-June 1944 he landed at Utah Beach in Normandy, France and served with the Service Battery of the 268th Field Artillery Battalion which carried 8 inch guns. Outside of Paris during the liberation he was invited by a French family for dinner. His campaigns included Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe. Clayton was discharged from the Army in December 1945 at Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania. Clayton attended Hiram College part time and briefly worked with his father in the grocery business in Ohio, then moved to California in 1947. There he had stints in the grocery, real estate and advertising business as well as a sales manager before retiring in 1987. He married his wife Eleanor in August 1946 after proposing to her on Valentine Day and their union lasted 74 years until her passing. They had three children. Baum is credited with 8,000 volunteer hours to the La Mesa police department. In 2023 he was presented with the French Knights on the Order of the Legion of Honor, created by Napoleon Bonaparte, for his part in helping to free France in World War II. Baum said at the ceremony " I love America. Its one of the greatest countries. Take care of it, be proud of it, don't run it down." Courtesy of losangeles.consulfrance.org.