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Personal info

Full name
BARKER, Delford Wayne
Date of birth
10 May 1925
Age
19
Place of birth
Refugio County, Texas
Hometown
Tivoli, Refugio County, Texas

Military service

Service number
38556426
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
E Company,
2nd Battalion,
401st Glider Infantry Regiment,
101st Airborne Division
Awards
Bronze Star,
Purple Heart

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
3 October 1944
Place of death
Near Middelaar, The Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.

Immediate family

Members
Henry R. T. Barker (father)
Louise M. (Rickaway) Barker (mother)
Margaret L. Barker (sister)

More information

Pvt Delford W. Barker enlisted at Fort Sam, Houston, Texas on 10 September 1943.

Pvt Barker was digging in near Middelaar, when the enemy opened fire with machine guns, and he was shot through te neck. The tactical situation prevented aid men from reaching him all the day and he was not evacuated before the unit was forced to withdraw the following night.

Following the end of the war, the areas of combat were thoroloughly searched but the remains of Pvr Barker were never recovered.

In August 1977, officials at the US Army Memorial Affairs Activity, Europe, Frankfurt, Germany, were notified by the Netherlands Army Graves Unit that they had in their possession the skeletal remains believed to be of an American soldier from World War II, based on identification tags for Delford W. Barker found with the remains. The remains had been discovered by a servey team while conducting a routine geographic survey in the area.

After examiniation in Frankfurt, based on comparison of physical and dental charateristics, recovery of the two ID tags and circumstances surrounding the location of the remains, it was concluded that the remains could be identified as those off Pvt Barker.

His mother requested that he would be interred in an American cemetery in Europe. The only available cemetery was that off Ardennes where the burial took place on 22 February 1978.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, www.ww2-airborne.us, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, IDPF

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, IDPF, www.ancestry.com