World War II Major General Paul William Baade (April 16, 1889 – October 9, 1959) was a highly decorated United States Army officer.

Following high school, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in June 1907 and earned nickname "Baby Paul" due to his clear blue eyes and velvet-like skin.

Many of his classmates, such as Charles P. Hall, William H. H. Morris Jr., Alexander Surles, John R. Homer, Raymond A. Wheeler, John P. Lucas, Harry R. Kutz, Herbert Dargue, Ira T. Wyche, Karl S. Bradford, Frederick Gilbreath, Gustav H. Franke, Philip B. Fleming, Jesse A. Ladd, Thompson Lawrence, Bethel Wood Simpson, James B. Crawford, Joseph C. Mehaffey, Harold F. Nichols and James R.N.

[3][4][7] Following the American entry into World War I in April 1917, Baade was promoted to the temporary rank of major and attended the Sixth Division’s Foreign Officers’ School.

He then served at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, until he embarked for France with the advance party of the 81st Infantry Division under Brigadier General Charles H. Barth in July 1918.

[3][4] Upon the Armistice was signed, he was stationed at Laignes until June 1919, when his regiment was ordered back to the United States and demobilized at Camp Lee, Virginia.

[3][4][7] Baade was then appointed Professor of Military Science & Tactics at Boston University and remained in this capacity until summer 1923, when he entered the course at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Following his graduation one year later, he served in the Office of the Chief of Infantry under Major General Charles S. Farnsworth until he was sent to the Junior course at the Army War College in Washington, D.C., in June 1928.

[3][5] He was promoted to the permanent rank of major in July 1927 shortly after his graduation from the Army War College, amd assumed duties with the 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Baade and his division was defending the Foret de Domaniale area at the end of January 1945 and then moved to the Netherlands to hold a defensive line along the Roer on February 22.

For his service in 1945, Baade received the Legion of Merit, three awards of the Bronze Star Medal and the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau, rank of Grand Officer.

[2][4][5][1] Baade subsequently commanded his division during the occupation of Hanover and Recklinghausen, and then governed the Coblenz area until late July 1945, when control was relinquished to the French Army.

[8] On December 7, 1946, Baade and his wife survived the Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta, Georgia by crawling across a plank to a neighboring building.

[3] Major General Paul W. Baade died on October 9, 1959, in San Francisco, California, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.