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CPT BARR SERVED WITH F CO, 2ND BN, 2ND MAR, 2ND MARDIV DURING WWll.
HE WON THE NAVY CROSS AT TARAWA. HIS CITATION READS:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TAKES PLEASURE IN PRESENTING THE NAVY CROSS TO SECOND LIEUTENANT JOSEPH JAMES BARR (MCSN: 0-19359), UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS (RESERVE), FOR EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE WHILE SERVING AS A PLATOON LEADER IN COMPANY F, SECOND BATTALION, SECOND MARINES, SECOND MARINE DIVISION, IN ACTION AGAINST ENEMY JAPANESE FORCES AT BETIO ISLAND, TARAWA ATOLL, GILBERT ISLANDS, ON 20 NOVEMBER 1943. ALTHOUGH WOUNDED IN THE FACE AND RIGHT SHOULDER WHILE EMBARKED IN A LANDING CRAFT APPROACHING THE BEACH, SECOND LIEUTENANT BARR NEVERLESS REMAINED FOR THIRTY-SIX HOURS TO ORGANIZE AND LEAD HIS PLATOON. HIS INSPIRING CONDUCT INDOMITABLE FIGHTING SPIRIT AND COMPLETE DISREGARD FOR HIS OWN NEEDS THROUGHOUT THIS GRUELING PERIOD REFLECTS GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF AND THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE.
Other Comments:
CPT BARR WAS 88 YEARS OLD WHEN HE DIED.
HE WAS A LAWYER, JUDGE, AND MARINE ACCORDING TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)/Battle of Tulagi (including First Savo)
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
August / 1942
Description
The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied (mainly United States (U.S.) Marine) ground forces. It took place from 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.
In the battle, U.S. Marines, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, successfully landed and captured the islands of Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo among which the Japanese Navy had constructed a naval and seaplane base. The landings were fiercely resisted by the Japanese Navy troops who, outnumbered and outgunned by the Allied forces, fought and died almost to the last man.
At the same time that the landings on Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo were taking place, Allied troops were also landing on nearby Guadalcanal, with the objective of capturing an airfield under construction by Japanese forces. In contrast to the intense fighting on Tulagi and Gavutu, the landings on Guadalcanal were essentially unopposed. The landings on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal initiated the six-month long Guadalcanal campaign and a series of combined-arms battles between Allied and Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands area.