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Woodrow Wilson Barr was born in Keyser, W.V., on 30 June 1913, and was named for the U.S. president. He was the son of James Arthur Barr (1883-1940) and Cora Dell Propst
Barr (1885-1961), both long-time residents of Mineral County. The 1920 Federal Census shows the family living in Logan County, and lists Woodrow's siblings as Clarence A., Marguerite W.,
James O., Paul, Buster, Arthur, and Opal Marie. At some point, the family returned to Mineral County, but Woodrow Wilson Barr graduated from Parsons High School (Tucker County). Like many
of his contemporaries from the eastern part of the state, he found employment in nearby Maryland, where he worked at the Celanese plant in Cumberland for four years prior to his service in
World War II. He was a Protestant by faith.
Barr enlisted in the Marine Corps on 13 January 1942 at Pittsburgh, Pa. Following training at Parris Island, S.C., and at Quantico, Va., he was shipped overseas to the Pacific theater on
28 April 1942. Assigned to the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, he was promoted to private first class on 01 May. In his short seven months in the Corps
he served at Guadalcanal and Watchtower and later at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. The Guadalcanal-Tulagi Invasion of 07-09 August 1942, just over a half year into the U.S. involvement in the
Pacific Theatre, was led by an assault force of thirteen big transports, six large cargo ships, and four small high-speed transports manned by some 19,000 Marines and backed up by three aircraft
carriers, a battleship, six cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and five oilers. Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher commanded the entire operation. While most of these ships were intended to assault
Guadalcanal, Tulagi, just twenty miles away and to the north, was a strategic target as well. Although the Marines achieved their invasion objective relatively quickly in this recapture, supply
shortages over the next few weeks made their efforts to hold their territory tenuous. It was here
that Barr was one of forty-five Marines killed in action as the U.S. recaptured that island from the
Japanese on 07 August 1942. Pfc. Woodrow Wilson Barr lost his life when he persisted in his advance against a hostile machine-gun position.
Pfc. Barr received the Silver Star (for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action") and the Purple Heart, posthumously, in addition to the Presidential Citation (1942) and the Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign Medal (1942). His remains were returned to the United States, where he was interred at Queens Meadow Point Cemetery at Keyser in Mineral County, West Virginia.
USS Barr (DE 576) (1944-1946) was the first ship to be named in his honor.
(Photo from the web site: Find-A-Grave.) |
Mike Smolinski
Clifton, N.J.
Archive Manager
DE / FF / LCS Archive
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