On August 1, 2015, Army 2LT Edward F. Barker, 21, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born February 23, 1923, in Contra Costa County, California, Edward was the son of Mrs Marian (Seaman) Barker-Schrader, brother of Mrs Marie (Barker) Shoemaker and grandson of Andrew & Anna (Fagan) Seaman.
Edward was a 1940 graduate of Owen D. Young.
He enlisted in the Army on December 30, 1942 in Utica, New York. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a routemen and also as Single, without dependents, and resident of Herkimer County, New York.
Edward served as a Second Lieutenant on P-47D #42-23241, Headquarters Squadron, 8th Air Service Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
On Sept. 30, 1944, Barker was the pilot of a Thunderbolt that took off from Nadzab Airfield, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on a high altitude training mission and failed to return. The aircraft was last seen flying north-northwest of Finschhafen, and all search efforts failed to locate Barker and the aircraft. Barker was reported as missing when he failed to return after the mission. A military review board later amended his status to presumed dead.
He was just 21 years old.
In 1962, a U.S. military team discovered P-47D aircraft wreckage in the mountains of the Huan Peninsula in Morobe Province. The aircraft was correlated to Barker; however, the team found no evidence of the pilot. LT Barker's nephew says the remains were originally found in 1962 and photographed but never recovered. In 2012, search teams and an excavation crew recovered the remains.
From Jan. 22-25, 2002, a Department of Defense (DoD) team located the crash site in Kua Valley near Pindui, Papua New Guinea, but no remains of the pilot were discovered during the survey of the site. In late 2012, another DoD team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear and personal effects.
To identify Barker's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA, which matched his niece and nephew.
Calling hours took place Friday, July 31, 2015 at Fenner Funeral Home, 155 Court Street in Herkimer. The hours were from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Edward was finally returned to his family and, on August 1, 2015, laid to rest at the Calvary Cemetery, in Herkimer, New York, with full military honors.
Army Second Lieutenant Edward F Barker is memorialized within the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, in the Philippines. Although he has now been recovered and identified, 2LT Barker's name shall remain permanently inscribed within the "Tablets of the Missing"". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Edward is no longer missing (56750990).
Sources:
Russ Pickett
WKTV.COM "WWII Fighter Pilot Identified as Herkimer native"
DPAA Release No: 15-053 July 23, 2015
Obituary: FennerFuneralHome.com
Born February 23, 1923, in Contra Costa County, California, Edward was the son of Mrs Marian (Seaman) Barker-Schrader, brother of Mrs Marie (Barker) Shoemaker and grandson of Andrew & Anna (Fagan) Seaman.
Edward was a 1940 graduate of Owen D. Young.
He enlisted in the Army on December 30, 1942 in Utica, New York. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a routemen and also as Single, without dependents, and resident of Herkimer County, New York.
Edward served as a Second Lieutenant on P-47D #42-23241, Headquarters Squadron, 8th Air Service Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
On Sept. 30, 1944, Barker was the pilot of a Thunderbolt that took off from Nadzab Airfield, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on a high altitude training mission and failed to return. The aircraft was last seen flying north-northwest of Finschhafen, and all search efforts failed to locate Barker and the aircraft. Barker was reported as missing when he failed to return after the mission. A military review board later amended his status to presumed dead.
He was just 21 years old.
In 1962, a U.S. military team discovered P-47D aircraft wreckage in the mountains of the Huan Peninsula in Morobe Province. The aircraft was correlated to Barker; however, the team found no evidence of the pilot. LT Barker's nephew says the remains were originally found in 1962 and photographed but never recovered. In 2012, search teams and an excavation crew recovered the remains.
From Jan. 22-25, 2002, a Department of Defense (DoD) team located the crash site in Kua Valley near Pindui, Papua New Guinea, but no remains of the pilot were discovered during the survey of the site. In late 2012, another DoD team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear and personal effects.
To identify Barker's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA, which matched his niece and nephew.
Calling hours took place Friday, July 31, 2015 at Fenner Funeral Home, 155 Court Street in Herkimer. The hours were from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Edward was finally returned to his family and, on August 1, 2015, laid to rest at the Calvary Cemetery, in Herkimer, New York, with full military honors.
Army Second Lieutenant Edward F Barker is memorialized within the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, in the Philippines. Although he has now been recovered and identified, 2LT Barker's name shall remain permanently inscribed within the "Tablets of the Missing"". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Edward is no longer missing (56750990).
Sources:
Russ Pickett
WKTV.COM "WWII Fighter Pilot Identified as Herkimer native"
DPAA Release No: 15-053 July 23, 2015
Obituary: FennerFuneralHome.com
On August 1, 2015, Army 2LT Edward F. Barker, 21, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born February 23, 1923, in Contra Costa County, California, Edward was the son of Mrs Marian (Seaman) Barker-Schrader, brother of Mrs Marie (Barker) Shoemaker and grandson of Andrew & Anna (Fagan) Seaman.
Edward was a 1940 graduate of Owen D. Young.
He enlisted in the Army on December 30, 1942 in Utica, New York. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a routemen and also as Single, without dependents, and resident of Herkimer County, New York.
Edward served as a Second Lieutenant on P-47D #42-23241, Headquarters Squadron, 8th Air Service Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
On Sept. 30, 1944, Barker was the pilot of a Thunderbolt that took off from Nadzab Airfield, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on a high altitude training mission and failed to return. The aircraft was last seen flying north-northwest of Finschhafen, and all search efforts failed to locate Barker and the aircraft. Barker was reported as missing when he failed to return after the mission. A military review board later amended his status to presumed dead.
He was just 21 years old.
In 1962, a U.S. military team discovered P-47D aircraft wreckage in the mountains of the Huan Peninsula in Morobe Province. The aircraft was correlated to Barker; however, the team found no evidence of the pilot. LT Barker's nephew says the remains were originally found in 1962 and photographed but never recovered. In 2012, search teams and an excavation crew recovered the remains.
From Jan. 22-25, 2002, a Department of Defense (DoD) team located the crash site in Kua Valley near Pindui, Papua New Guinea, but no remains of the pilot were discovered during the survey of the site. In late 2012, another DoD team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear and personal effects.
To identify Barker's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA, which matched his niece and nephew.
Calling hours took place Friday, July 31, 2015 at Fenner Funeral Home, 155 Court Street in Herkimer. The hours were from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Edward was finally returned to his family and, on August 1, 2015, laid to rest at the Calvary Cemetery, in Herkimer, New York, with full military honors.
Army Second Lieutenant Edward F Barker is memorialized within the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, in the Philippines. Although he has now been recovered and identified, 2LT Barker's name shall remain permanently inscribed within the "Tablets of the Missing"". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Edward is no longer missing (56750990).
Sources:
Russ Pickett
WKTV.COM "WWII Fighter Pilot Identified as Herkimer native"
DPAA Release No: 15-053 July 23, 2015
Obituary: FennerFuneralHome.com
Born February 23, 1923, in Contra Costa County, California, Edward was the son of Mrs Marian (Seaman) Barker-Schrader, brother of Mrs Marie (Barker) Shoemaker and grandson of Andrew & Anna (Fagan) Seaman.
Edward was a 1940 graduate of Owen D. Young.
He enlisted in the Army on December 30, 1942 in Utica, New York. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a routemen and also as Single, without dependents, and resident of Herkimer County, New York.
Edward served as a Second Lieutenant on P-47D #42-23241, Headquarters Squadron, 8th Air Service Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
On Sept. 30, 1944, Barker was the pilot of a Thunderbolt that took off from Nadzab Airfield, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on a high altitude training mission and failed to return. The aircraft was last seen flying north-northwest of Finschhafen, and all search efforts failed to locate Barker and the aircraft. Barker was reported as missing when he failed to return after the mission. A military review board later amended his status to presumed dead.
He was just 21 years old.
In 1962, a U.S. military team discovered P-47D aircraft wreckage in the mountains of the Huan Peninsula in Morobe Province. The aircraft was correlated to Barker; however, the team found no evidence of the pilot. LT Barker's nephew says the remains were originally found in 1962 and photographed but never recovered. In 2012, search teams and an excavation crew recovered the remains.
From Jan. 22-25, 2002, a Department of Defense (DoD) team located the crash site in Kua Valley near Pindui, Papua New Guinea, but no remains of the pilot were discovered during the survey of the site. In late 2012, another DoD team began excavating the site. The team recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, military gear and personal effects.
To identify Barker's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA, which matched his niece and nephew.
Calling hours took place Friday, July 31, 2015 at Fenner Funeral Home, 155 Court Street in Herkimer. The hours were from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Edward was finally returned to his family and, on August 1, 2015, laid to rest at the Calvary Cemetery, in Herkimer, New York, with full military honors.
Army Second Lieutenant Edward F Barker is memorialized within the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, in the Philippines. Although he has now been recovered and identified, 2LT Barker's name shall remain permanently inscribed within the "Tablets of the Missing"". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Edward is no longer missing (56750990).
Sources:
Russ Pickett
WKTV.COM "WWII Fighter Pilot Identified as Herkimer native"
DPAA Release No: 15-053 July 23, 2015
Obituary: FennerFuneralHome.com
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