Family of KIA

Discussion about wrecks and losses as well as historic sites in the Pacific.

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JohnnyRoth
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Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:16 pm

Family of KIA

Post by JohnnyRoth »

http://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/42-73187.html
Mr William F.Barbee was my great uncle,
Brother of Mr Clarence E. Barbee (Navy USS Roselle/Ptarmigan) KIA 01/19/1944. It is my understanding, (from family lore), that Billy and the remaining KIA crew were shot down during the war and were shot while navigating a river. When the enemy approached, they flipped their life boat over and hid beneath. At one point, however, Billy did not come back up. Just wanted to put that out for people who might have known or knew of Billy. My grandmother had his picture and the newspaper death notice on her wall until she died. All of my great uncles and grandfather came back except for Billy.Although, it was uncommon for all the brothers in a family to go to war at the time, all of mine went overseas.




Billy, you are remembered

RSwank
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Re: Family of KIA

Post by RSwank »

There is a statement in the MACR for this loss (given by Stewart A Anderson who was one of the survivors) regarding Barbee.
He states that after six days on life rafts, they were strafed by a Japanese fighter. The men may have jumped in the water to escape the strafing, but Barbee was hit in the back of the head and killed.
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