Henry L Baul was born in December 1922 in Fitzgerald, Georgia. His family moved to Florida when Baul was young. His father worked for the railroad there. After school, he moved to Washington D.C. and joined the Marine Corps in 1942. He joined the Marines because he listened to the report about the attack at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He thought the attack was terrible, and he wanted to help his country. President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] declared the armed forces desegregated. He was 19 years old when he joined the Marine Corps. He was given an I.Q. test and a physical. When Baul was inducted, there were four other men with him about his age. One of the men had been a lieutenant in the Army, but decided to join the Marine Corps. That evening, Baul took a train to North Carolina, eventually making it to Jacksonville. A truck brought the men to the camp, but the guard did not know about new recruits. Eventually Baul was allowed in, assigned to a barracks, and fed. Just as he was falling asleep, Baul was called to attention. The next morning, he heard the bugle call and started training. Baul exercised, ate, and then did drill. One of the men with Baul was a professional cook. After breakfast, Baul received a haircut. More recruits came in throughout the day. The following day, Baul was taught how to drill, despite it being very hot. Baul was in a platoon of 40 men. By the end of the week, the platoon was able to do all the exercises. Baul took to drilling quickly. In one month, he could do every exercise, so Baul was brought to the rifle range. Baul became a sharpshooter, so he received three extra dollars a month. His father had taught him how to shoot a shotgun and a rifle. He trained on an old Springfield [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber Model 1903, or M1903, Springfield bolt action rifle] and the recoil was rough. Everyone had to qualify as a marksman to be in the Marine Corps. Many men had to retake the course until they qualified.

After completing basic training, Henry Baul was allowed to return home for leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. His family was surprised to see him in his uniform. He was among the first Black Marines. When he returned to base, Baul started training on the 40mm antiaircraft gun [Annotator's Note: Bofors 40mm antiaircraft automatic cannon]. He attended an Army school in Wilmington, North Carolina for six weeks where he learned how to run the generator for the 40mm gun. The gun had a team of two people. Following graduating, Baul attained the rank of platoon sergeant, then gunnery sergeant. He was in charge of three platoons of 140 men. His men were very good at their job. The men were then trained in hand-to-hand combat and jiu jitsu. There was an actor in the unit that was very good at martial arts. Baul's antiaircraft unit [Annotator's Note: 51st Defense Battalion] was told it would go overseas. Baul took the guns to the railroad for transport to the Pacific coast. When the guns were loaded, the train pulled out and Baul's men took a passenger train to California. Once in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California], Baul completed more training and boarded a ship for the South Pacific. During the trip to Funafuti [Annotator's Note: Funafuti, Tuvalu], Baul got seasick. He was later told he has an imbalance that makes him seasick. After a few days, he got used to life on a ship. He landed on Funafuti and relived a Marine battalion. He remained on the island for nine months, then moved to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. While on Eniwetok, Baul started getting buzzed by Japanese planes. When the Japanese would get close, Baul's men would start shooting to scare them off. There were around 60 islands in the atoll. By that time, the United States was winning the war. Baul remained on Eniwetok for nine months. The Air Force was bombing Japanese cities. After the second atomic attack [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], the Japanese Emperor [Annotator's Note: Emperor Hirohito] surrendered. General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] rode into Tokyo Bay [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan] on the Missouri [Annotator's Note: USS Missouri (BB-63)], where the surrender was formalized. Afterwards, Baul was told he would be going home and discharged. He boarded an aircraft carrier, and slept in the aircraft hangar. He got seasick again on the return journey. Baul thought the ship was going to sink in a storm. He tried to go to the top deck, but the captain told them it would not sink. Baul returned to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] harbor. There were bands playing. He was excited to be back and off the ship. It took two weeks to make it back to North Carolina where he was discharged two weeks later.

When he was discharged, Henry Baul took a taxi from North Carolina to Washington D.C. He returned home to his family, but his father had passed while he was overseas. It was difficult for Baul to see his father's stuff in the house. His father was born during slavery and was not allowed to go to school, something he always wanted to do. At 16 years old, he left his parent's home and took a train to Florida to work on the railroad. His father cut snake infested grass. He was paid well for the work. Eventually he married a girl and had two sons. His wife caught scarlet fever and died and the kids were sent to Georgia to live with her parents. A friend of his introduced him to his second wife, Baul's mother. She caught dropsy, which eventually killed her. Baul's parents had six kids. Baul remembers his mother's legs being deformed from the disease. His father took the family to South Carolina to see a doctor that was supposed to be able to cure dropsy. They stayed in a suburb during the visit. The doctor said it would take two months to cure the dropsy. His father and some of the kids returned to Florida while the doctor worked. Baul remained with his mother. The doctor was a fraud who took the family's money then left. Eventually, Baul's mother died and it took three weeks before his father was informed. By the time his father found out, she had already been buried. Baul remembers his father walking towards him, very upset over his wife's death. His father was strong.

Henry Baul believes the military offered a bit more racial respect than his civilian life. While in the Marine Corps, he experienced racism at a bus station. During the Christmas season, Baul visited some family in Baltimore [Annotator's Note: Baltimore, Maryland]. During his return journey, the bus driver would only let white Marines on the bus. The Marines stuck up for Baul and made the driver take him instead. Baul believes he was trained well, maybe even over trained. His trainers wanted to make sure the troops were prepared. When the recruits completed rifle training, they became Marines. Baul's father could get passes for train tickets since he worked for the railroad. He brought the kids all over the country, despite not being able to read or write. Baul remembers his father was a smart man despite not being educated. His father would look into the windows of schools when he was young, but he was not allowed to enter. He left his parents and went to Florida for work. He learned how to use his common sense because he was too old to go to school. When he would his pick up his paycheck, he would write an "X". When he told Baul he could not read and write, Baul cried. His father was a deacon in his church. He always made sure everyone in his family was clean. After Baul's mother died, his father never dated again. Baul believes the Marine Corps made him a man. He believes the Marines is the best fighting force in the United States. Baul thinks his time in the Marines is why he made it so long. He started and owned several transportation businesses. His life has been good. Baul believes anything kids learn about war is good, but believes war is a bad thing. He wants kids to get a good education. Baul wants people to know he was proud of his country, despite the circumstances he was born into. The attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] hurt Baul. He wanted to help the country. When the president [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] said the armed forces were open to everyone, Baul decided to join the Marine Corps. He wanted to be in the best fighting force the country had. He was trained without reservation and met some great people. Baul liked his officers and looked up to them. His colonel [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Colonel Samuel A.Woods, Jr.] graduated from the Citadel [Annotator's Note: The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina], and Baul loved him. After the war, the Montford Point Marines [Annotator's Note: the first African-Americans to serve in the Marine Corps] created several associations. They learned about the passing of Colonel Woods, and his children started attending the reunions. He was a very smart man.