COLONEL WILLIAM E. BARBER
dies at 83 on 19 April 2002
He was honored for heroism in the Korean War in 1950Marines were outnumbered 5-to-1 by Chinese in battle Barber refused to leave. Irvine, California - 21 April 2002 -- Col. William E. Barber, a Medal of Honor recipient and one of the nation's most famous Korean War veterans, died Friday of liver failure after a long struggle with bone-marrow cancer, his family said.
Barber, 83, died at his home in Irvine, surrounded by his family, according to a family friend, Jerry A. Courtier. Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Jed Pearson described Barber as "a living legend".
A park in Irvine was named after him in 1998: the Col. Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park. Barber was best known for his heroism in one of the worst defeats in Marine history, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in 1950. Barber's Fox Company was outnumbered more than 5-to-1 at the reservoir south of the Yalu River, which separates North Korea from China. U.S. troops had pushed North Koreans all the way to the uppermost area near China. The war was thought to be nearly over; few thought the Chinese would join the battle. But in the weeks before Thanksgiving, roughly 120,000 Chinese crossed the Yalu River into North Korea. The Chinese troops hoped to overwhelm the U.S. forces it perceived as threatening the Chinese border.
On Nov. 27, the Chinese began their attack. On the strength of sheer numbers, the Chinese broke through and gained a U.S. machine- gun position. Barber was hit by a bullet that fractured a bone near his groin. He later said he felt the blood, but he didn't stop fighting. Barber, then a captain, ended up commanding his men from a stretcher. Barber told a reporter decades later that the Chinese weren't particularly good at fighting and didn't seem to have a strategy. The Americans regained the machine gun and continued to hold the position.
The Medal of Honor went to Barber partly for refusing to obey a direction to retreat from the hill. Barber knew that if he could hold the hill, about 8,000 nearby Marines would be protected. If he left, he thought, those men would be trapped.
He told his commander he needed supplies dropped by air. Temperatures were sometimes 20 degrees below zero, and coffee froze before it could be drunk.
After five days and six nights of battle, more than 1,000 on the enemy's side were dead. The Marines made three rescue attempts. Finally, Ray Davis, who later became a general, overwhelmed the Chinese with his Marines and came face to face with Barber. The two men were so choked up that neither could speak, Davis later recalled.
The heroic stand saved countless American lives. The Marines retreated shortly thereafter. Barber was described by friends as someone who didn't like to talk about his heroics. "He would answer a direct question, but he didn't talk about it very much and he didn't belabor it," said Jim Silva, Orange County supervisor.
Barber was born in West Liberty, Ky., on Nov. 30, 1919. He attended Morehouse State College in Kentucky and enlisted with the Marines in 1940. In 1943 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and in July1944 he fought on Iwo Jima. He was wounded twice there. His many awards include the Silver Star with Two Gold Stars, Legion of Merit with Two Gold Stars, Purple Heart with Two Gold Stars and three awards of the Presidential Unit Citation.
Barber was a psychological operations officer in Vietnam. He later told a reporter he thought some of the greatest acts of heroism in war were performed by POWs who had been tortured in Vietnam. After retiring in 1970, Barber became a military analyst for Northrop Corp. in Anaheim.
Barber is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ione, and his son, John, and daughter, Sharon Waldo, who live near Seattle. A memorial service will be held next week at Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin.Barber will be buried later at Arlington National Cemetery. The family has requested that any donations be sent to the Orange County Chapter of the Freedoms Foundation, c/o Connie Sackett, 4580 Edgewater Circle, Corona, CA 92883.
Special to www.historicalmilitaria.com – 21 APRIL 2002