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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.
Ryukyus Campaign (1945)/Battle for Okinawa
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.