Ed Baquet was born on May 5, 1922, in Unionville, Missouri. He enlisted in the Oregon National Guard on June 12, 1939, serving until February 27, 1940. Baquet later enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on August 28, 1942, and entered the Aviation Cadet Program on February 22, 1943. He was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his pilot wings at Santa Ana, California, on December 5, 1943, and after completing P-38 Lightning training, he served with the 49th Fighter Squadron of the 14th Fighter Group in the Mediterranean Theater. He attended P-59 Airacomet Jet Pilot School at Ontario Army Air Field, California, from January to April 1945, and he later flew F-80 Shooting Star fighters in combat during the Korean War. After Korea, he served with the 1738th Ferry Squadron at Long Beach Municipal Airport, California, from August 1953 to May 1954, and then with the 1708th Ferry Group at Brookley AFB, Alabama, until August 1957. Maj Baquet then completed B-57 Canberra training in September 1957, and served with the 8th Bomb Squadron at Johnson AB, Japan, until September 1960. He served with the 1st Aerial Tracking Squadron at Biggs AFB, Texas, from September 1960 to July 1962, followed by service as Operations Officer with the 4758th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron, also at Biggs, from July 1962 until his retirement from the Air Force on January 1, 1965. Ed Baquet died on December 25, 2007, and was buried at the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. He and his wife Oresa had three children together-Carole, Kelly, and Kevin.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.