John Baldwin Lord, 89, chemical engineer

John Baldwin Lord, 89, formerly of Abington, a retired chemical engineer and World War II prisoner of war, died Friday, Feb. 3, of complications from cancer at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Ill.

Mr. Lord grew up in a suburb of Chicago. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and became a radio operator aboard B-24 bombers based in England.

In October 1944, his plane was shot down over Kassel, Germany, and he and five members of his crew were captured.

Mr. Lord badly burned his hand escaping the plane. He was treated by a captured British Royal Air Force doctor. In his memoir for the Veterans History Project, Mr. Lord wrote that he tracked down the doctor years later and visited him on many trips to England.

For four months, Mr. Lord was imprisoned in Stalag Luft IV in Eastern Prussia, now Poland.

To alleviate boredom, he taught the other airmen to play bridge, and, he told his son John, carved figures for a chess set from soap he received in Red Cross packages.

By early February, he wrote in his memoir, the airmen could hear Russian artillery in the distance.

The guards, who didn't want to be captured by the Russians, evacuated the camp and forced the POWs to march west.

In his memoir, Mr. Lord wrote about the lack of food and frostbite.

Mr. Lord and the airmen were rescued by U.S. troops in April 1945. Back in a military camp, he wrote in his memoir, he and another POW spent most of a night eating milk, bread, butter, and jelly until they were sick.

Mr. Lord, who was awarded an Air Medal and a Purple Heart, told his son he attributed his health issues in later life to the march. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the 1980s and also had lung problems.

After his discharge, Mr. Lord earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1948.

His career was with Betz Laboratories in Chicago and, after 1959, in Philadelphia and Trevose, as a plant manager. He was a senior consultant for Betz when he retired as a plant manager in the late 1980s.

An avid military historian, Mr. Lord made and painted miniature lead soldiers from the Napoleonic era. He enjoyed traveling and was a fan of the Chicago Bears, Blackhawks, and Cubs, and of Notre Dame football. He was deeply religious, his son said, and had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mr. Lord's wife of 41 years, Marian Johannes Lord, died in 1989. Since 1993, he had been married to Kathryn Kramer Lord.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Lord is survived by sons Kevin and Tim; daughters Mary and Peggy; three sisters; 11 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Mass was said Friday, Feb. 10, at Holy Cross Church in Deerfield, Ill.

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