KOREAN WAR PROJECT LOSS

Dallas, Texas: Lt. Col. Edward L. Barker, United States Marines, Retired, died August 4, 2009, after a prolonged illness in Temple, Texas. He was born on December 8, 1920, in Houston, Texas. He entered service from Crockett, Texas. He was 88 years old. Barker was a veteran of the United States Marines and served in the South Pacific in WW II. In the Korean War in 1951-1952, he served with Marine Observation Squadron Six (VMO-6) and HMR-161. In 1941, he left Texas A&M and volunteered for service in the Royal Canadian Air Force to become an enlisted flight instructor. Following Pearl Harbor, he was commissioned in the United States Marines after returning to the United States and trained as a Naval Aviator at Pensacola, Florida. While in Canada, he met and later married Geraldine Beatrice Frances Brown of Regina, Saskatchewan, April 17, 1943, in Regina. They are survived by two sons, Edward L. Barker, Jr, and Harold R. Barker, of Dallas, Texas. His last billet in the Marines was as Executive Officer of H&HS Squadron, MCAF, New River, North Carolina, in 1965. In Korea, he was awarded the Silver Star for an attempted helicopter rescue of a downed Marine pilot on the Hill 851 - Hill 520 ridgeline at Heartbreak Ridge on October 7, 1951. He was also credited with the Air Medal w/8, Distinguished Flying Cross w/1, Navy Letter of Commendation w/V, Presidential Unit Citation, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with w/3, Victory Medal WW II, China Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Korean Service Medal w/3, and Korean Presidential Unit Citation. In 1980, after a lifetime of total silence about his career, Lt. Col. Barker consented to talk for one hour with his youngest son, Harold R. Barker, about his military career. After that one hour, he refused to talk more and until his death remained silent. That one hour conversation later resulted in the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., and the founding of the Korean War Project on the Internet. According to his wishes, his ashes will be released over the Pacific Ocean off California. The story of Lt. Colonel Barker’s heroism and influence in honoring all Korean War Veterans throughout the world can be found at: www.koreanwar.org/html/chapter_one.html