BAESEL, ALBERT E., (1892-27 Sept. 1918) was 1 of 3 WORLD WAR I soldiers from Ohio awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Albert the son of Henry and Caroline Baesel was born and raised in Berea. During World War I, 2nd Lt. Baesel was serving with the 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Division when he was killed 27 Sept. 1918, while rescuing Cpl. Sterling S. Ryan near Ivoiry, France. A newly-chartered American Legion post was named in Baesel's honor at a welcome-home celebration held in Berea 4 July 1919, and his posthumously-awarded Congressional Medal of Honor was presented to his widow Lydia Cole Baesel on 23 Dec. 1922. Hastily buried during the war, Baesel's body was returned to the U.S. and reinterred in Woodvale Cemetery, Middleburg Heights, 11 April 1926.
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