Memorial

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1st Lt George W. Barnes joined the Royal Canadian Air Force on 11 November 1941, until he was appointed Flight Officer in the USAAF on 29 June 1943. He obtained his training at Toronto, Ottawa, Victoriaville, Quebec, and Stanley, Nova Scotia, receiving his wings early in August 1942. He was transferred to the U.S. Air Forces at a ceremony in London, England, in the summer of 1943, having already seen considerable action over Europe. Later, he was awarded the Air Medal in recognition of his bravery during 10 combat sorties while escorting bombers over Europe. He was a graduate of Canton High School in 1937 and in 1939 from Lees-McRae College. When he volunteered for duty with the RCAF, he was a student at the University of Texas, specializing in architecture. He was the only son, and his sister, 1st Sgt Louise Barnes, joined the WAC and was stationed at Fort Lawton, Seattle, Washington.

According to 1st Lt Kendall E. Carlson, Lt Barnes joined his section just before a fight started. At that moment, they were east of Hannover at about 1100 hours. From then, it was impossible to tell where anyone was.

On 2 June 1947 and 17 August 1948, investigation teams visited the area around Breitenhees, Hankensbüttel, Einem, and Wintermoor in search of the remains of Lt Barnes. German records indicated that two American fighter planes crashed in the vicinity of Hankensbüttel and Wintermoor. These records further indicate that the remains of the crew members were buried at the cemetery of Hankensbüttel, from where they were evacuated to Ardennes Cemetery. There they were interred as Unknown X-341, later identified as Lt Glenn A. Herter, a member of the same flight as Lt Barnes, and as Unknown X-604, which was declared and approved as Unidentifiable due to the small quantity of remains present and the lack of any identifying factors. Investigations on both dates gave no further results. Also, investigations on cemeteries at Einem and Wintermoor were negative.

These investigations also concluded that the exact place of the crash could not be determined because several fighter planes were shot down on that day.