BARBER-MALCOLM

THREE  BROTHERS  DIED  TOGETHER  AT  PEARL  HARBOR

 

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the USS OKLAHOMA was moored at Battleship Row adjacent to Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.  The ship was berthed outboard of the USS MARYLAND (BB-46) and was a sitting duck when the Japanese struck the fleet at Pearl Harbor on that fateful morning.  An important inspection had been scheduled for OKLAHOMA the next day, so many of the ship’s watertight doors were open to allow easy access for the crew in preparing the ship for the scheduled inspection.  As the Japanese began the attack OKLAHOMA became one of their first targets and within minutes three torpedoes exploded against her port side causing extensive damage below the waterline.  As OKLAHOMA commenced to slowly roll over due to the tremendous amount of flooding seawater, terror reigned below deck and in the darkness men sought to find a way out of the burning, metal coffin.  Barely ten minutes into the battle the 25-year old dreadnaught OKLAHOMA had been struck by nine torpedoes and finally rolled completely over until only her starboard propeller and some of her starboard underwater hull was visible.  More than 400 sailors and Marines who would never again see the light of day were trapped.  OKLAHOMA suffered the second most casualties by a ship that day, surpassed only by the USS ARIZONA (BB-39) which had 1,177 officers and enlisted men killed.

 

As stories of tragic losses began to fill the newspapers and dampen the holiday spirit, perhaps none were more tragic than the story of three brothers, Leroy, Malcolm and Randolph Barber, who died together that day.  Leroy and Malcolm joined the Navy on May 8, 1940, and Randolph enlisted several months later.  Following recruit training Leroy was assigned to OKLAHOMA and by November 1940, at their requests, Leroy was joined aboard OKLAHOMA by his two brothers as it was not uncommon in those days for members of the same family to be stationed on the same ship or military post.  Each was advanced in rate, Leroy and Malcolm became Firemen First Class and Randolph a Fireman Second Class.  In December 1941 their parents received a letter from their three young sons postmarked in Honolulu, dated December 5, 1941, which contained a picture of them taken in Honolulu as a Christmas present.  On December 21 a solemn faced police officer delivered a telegram from the War Department informing their parents that all three of their sons were missing and presumed dead.

 

Although 32 crewmembers were subsequently successfully rescued alive from OKLAHOMA, none of the three Barbers brothers were ever found and it is presumed that one or more of their bodies has been laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu where approximately 390 unidentified men from OKLAHOMA have been buried in common graves.

 

In honor of the three Barber brothers the USS BARBER (DE-161) was commissioned in October 1943 and during World War II earned three battle stars until placed in inactive status in March 1946.  The ship was subsequently transferred to the Mexican Navy in 1969 where she served until 2001.

 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)