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| Staff Sgt. Lawrence Barnett was a B-24 waist gunner for the 848th Bombardment Squadron. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72423526/lawrence-lacey-barnett |
Lawrence Lacey Barnett never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 5, 1919 in Lamoni, Iowa. His parents Lacy and Marguerite were born in Missouri and Iowa. His father worked as a farmer and later as an awnings hanger. Still later he was an awning factory overseer. Lawrence had two younger brothers. His mother died in 1936. Lawrence completed four years of high school. He married Mary Kabrick in 1938. He worked as a metal worker for an awning service. He and his wife lived with his father who had remarried.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces on September 23, 1942. He became a staff sergeant and waist gunner in the 848th Bombardment Squadron, 490th Bombardment Group, 8th Airforce, which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. It was sent to England and began operating out of Stowmarket in Suffolk in May 1944.
On August 13, 1944 Sgt. Barnett's B-24 was in a mid-air collision with another B-24 from the same squadron, probably while positioning for their bombing mission that day.
His grave is at Mound Grove Cemetery in Independence, Missouri. His widow remarried and died in 2006.
Sgt. Barnett's story is also told at https://www.fold3.com/page/638678192-vern-f-barnett/stories. It is part of the Stories Behind the Stars, Utah pilot.
Last year on this date I profiled Boyce Bridges, 4th Infantry Division. You can read about Boyce here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you for remembering my Grandfather.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to add any extra information you want so the profile is more complete. Don Milne
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