| NAME: Joseph Robert Barker, Jr. |
NICKNAME: — |
SERVICE NUMBER: 929481 |
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| HOME OF RECORD: Joplin, MO |
NEXT OF KIN: Parents, Joseph & Sue Barker |
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| DATE OF BIRTH: 9/23/1925 |
SERVICE DATES: 12/29/1943 – 1946 |
DATE OF DEATH: 7/26/1989 |
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| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| None Served | C/1/24 | 522 | PFC | ||||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: — |
LAST KNOWN RANK: Corporal |
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Joseph Barker was drafted into the Marine Corps in December, 1943, at the age of eighteen. After completing boot camp, he spent a year standing guard at a Naval Ammunition Depot in Oahu before being assigned to a combat unit.
PFC Barker joined Charlie Company, 24th Marines in the late summer of 1945. He trained with them for a few weeks before the war ended; when the company disbanded, Barker was sent to San Diego for reassignment. He was eventually discharged with the rank of corporal.
Few details of Barker’s life after the war are available, but when he died in 1989 he was buried in a special section of Mount Olivet Cemetery, Hugo, Oklahoma – “Showman’s Rest.” This section is reserved for circus performers; Hugo is nicknamed “Circus City USA” for the traveling shows that winter in its temperate climate. Barker was likely involved with one of the troupes that passed through the town.