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Personal info

Full name
BARKER, John Wesley
Date of birth
7 August 1919
Age
25
Place of birth
Westchester County, New York
Hometown
Westchester County, New York

Military service

Service number
O-416977
Rank
Captain
Function
Pilot
Unit
702nd Bombardment Squadron,
445th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Distinguished Flying Cross,
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Missing in Action
Date of death
20 March 1945
Place of death
3 miles east of Helgoland Island, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
Louise Barker (mother)
Lewis A. Barker (brother)
Edna M. (Blake) Barker (wife)
Carolyn M. Barker (daughter)

Plane data

Serial number
44-48851
Data
Type: B-24-JSH
Destination: Hemmingstedt, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Heide oil refinery
MACR: 13563

More information

Capt John W. Barker, previously named John W. Murphy, assumed the name of John Wesley Barker on 15 June 1940. He attended the Peekskill High School before his entrance into Parks Air College in 1937, St. Louis. After an intensive two year course in Maintenance Engineering he graduated on 22 December 1939, and after a short Christmas vacation he assumed his duties at the Alabama Institute of Aeronautics, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as a Mechanic in Line Service. He entered the service on 14 October 1940. Later he was assigned to Randolph Field, Texas and then sent to active duty in Hawaii. He was at Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor, at the time of the bombing of the Japanese.

He had been based in England and had many missions over enemy territory and was in charge of a crew of ten men. In his last letter home, Capt Barker told of receiving a citation and said he was sending a copy of it home.

The aircraft received a direct hit by flak while on his bomb run. The right wing came off, and a large hole was observed in the left wing. The ship then blew up as it crashed into the water.

The entire crew is listed on the Walls of the Missing at Margraten.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Carla Mans, www.armyairforces.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.8thafhs.com, Honolulu Advertiser - 1 February 1942; Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007, Jeff Apaka, Patrick Rafferty - Westchester Historical Society – Evening Star, Peekskill, New York - 12 January 1940/15 May 1940/10 April 1945

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Rachel Stock - The Colin T. Naylor Jr. Archives