BARKER, Loren Joe: Born 1921

BARKER, THARP, DAVIS, KECK

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 11/3/2013 at 08:55:09

Joe Barker Missing After Enemy Attack

Young Coxswain Thought to Have Perished While Resisting Japanese Aggressors

Loren Joe Barker, 20-year-old Keosauqua youth, is missing following action with the enemy, according to a telegram received Saturday evening by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Barker of Keosauqua, from Rear Admiral Randol Jacobs, chief of the navel bureau of navigation. The admiral promised to furnish further information promptly when received.

Announcement was made shortly after receipt of this message that the young man was married secretly on May 23, 1940, to Miss Susan Elizabeth Tharp of Keosauqua. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. T.E. Clark at the Baptist church in Monticello, Mo., and was attended by the groom's mother.

Mr. Barker, who was born August 23, 1921, at the farm home at Keosauqua where his parents still reside, was graduated from the Keosauqua high school in 1938 and was the youngest member of the class. He enlisted in the navy in 1940 at the age of 18 and on March 5 was sent to the Great Lakes naval training station near Chicago.

He returned home for his first furlough in May during this period he was married. Two months later he sailed for Hawaii, where he was assigned to a hip. He was given a second furlough . . .

{Insert: MEMORIAL SERVICES
Memorial services for Loren Joe Barker will be held at the Methodist church in Keosauqua at 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon, in charge of the Rev. C.H. Orf.}

. . . in November, 1940, when he made his last visit home. In January, 1941, he returned to Hawaii. His last message to his parents was a cabled Thanksgiving greeting dated November 20, 1941. At the time of the declaration of war he held the rating of coxswain in the navy.

In compliance with government request, to prevent possible aid to our enemies, the name of his ship and station during the past few months will not be divulged.

Relatives in addition to his wife and parents include a sister, Mrs. Bruce Davis of Keosauqua; a grandmother, Mrs. Jennie Keck of Keosauqua, and three nieces.

The young man, whose forefathers came to Van Buren county more than a century ago, is the first Van Buren county man in the armed forces to be reported lost in combat with the enemy. At least four others, however, have lost their lives as a direct result of the preparedness program.

**Handwritten: FIRST SOLDIER TO LOOSE HIS LIFE IN ACTION IN WW II.
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Keosauqua.-Loren Joe Barker, coxswain in the United States navy, is reported missing in action in a telegram received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Barker of Keosauqua, Saturday night by Rear Admiral Randol Jacobs.

He is the first Keosauquan in the armed forces reported missing in action since the declaration of the war, although two Keosauquans lost their lives in the ordnance plant explosion near Burlington December 12.

Barker is survived by his wife, the former Miss Susan Elizabeth Tharp of Keosauqua, to whom he was wed secretly at the Baptist church in Monticello, Mo., by the Rev. T.E. Clark, May 23, 1940, after he had been in the navy two months. the wedding couple was accompanied by Barker's mother.

Survivors in addition to his wife and parents are a sister, Mrs. Bruce Davis of Keosauqua, and a grandmother, Mrs. Jennie Keck of Keosauqua. He was a direct descendant of one of the first families to settle in Van Buren county more than a century ago.

Mr. Barker was born August 23, 1921, at the farm home at Keosauqua where his parents still reside. He was graduated from the Keosauqua high school in 1938, the youngest member of the class. At the age of 18 he enlisted in the navy and left for training March 5, 1940, at the Great Lakes naval training station. While on his first furlough in May, 1940, he returned home and was married. Shortly afterward he sailed for Hawaii.

In November, 1940, he made his last visit home, and returned to Hawaii in January, 1941. The last message received from him by his parents was a cabled Thanksgiving greeting.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book C, Page 310, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA

Van Buren Obituaries maintained by Rich Lowe.
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