Cpl. Paul Barnett Killed at Seoul, Brother Wounded

From the Jonesboro (Arkansas) Sun (Oct 1950)

Photos (left and right) are undated photos of Uncle Paul.

    

    Fierce battles in Korea have felled two sons of Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Barnett, Jonesboro, Route 5.  They were informed Tuesday that Marine Cpl. Paul Barnett has been killed in action.  Earlier they learned that their other son, Billy, had been wounded while fighting with the Army in Korea.

    Cpl. Barnett, a veteran of seven years in the service of his country, was killed, according to the telegram, on Sept. 27, the very day Seoul was liberated and the American flag was hoisted over the Korean City.  It is believed that he was killed in the bitter hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of Seoul that was still in progress that day.

    The veteran Craighead County Marine, only 25, had seen seven full years of duty, three with the U.S. Navy during World War Two and the past four with the Marine Corps after re-enlisting in July of 1946.  He had been a resident of Rt. 5 in the Cash community since he was 13 years old.  He attended school during his early years at the Valley View School, south of Jonesboro.

    Word of the death of Cpl. Paul Barnett struck the second and most severe blow to the Barnett family in the past month.  Another son, Billy Barnett, was reported wounded in action in earlier fighting in Korea in September.  He is now recuperating in a hospital in Japan.  Billy reportedly was wounded in the left hand.

    Cpl. Barnett’s fiancée, Miss Learon Lewis, telephone operator here, stated that she received her last letter from him on September 14.  She said she assumed he wrote the letter at sea as he expressed that he "was going to take part in a landing soon."

    U.S. Forces under the leadership of Gen. Douglas McArthur launched the biggest surprise attack and turning point in the war the very next day with the Inchon landing by the Marines.  "I just know he was on the Inchon invasion," she said.  "The letter written on Sept. 14 was the last word I had received from him and the last word his parents received was a letter written about a week before that," she added.

    She further stated that in the letter she received a warrant which showed that he had been promoted only recently from the rank of Pfc. to that of Corporal.  "He seemed to be in pretty high spirits that day," she said.

    Up until July 26 Cpl Barnett was stationed at the nearby Navy-Marine post at Millington, Tenn., 12 miles from Memphis.  he had made frequent visits home while he was stationed there.  He was shipped from Millington to Suson, Calif., from where he sailed for Korea on August 17.  He landed in Korea on August 20 and had been in heavy fighting since that time, according to word received from him from time to time.

    In addition to his parents Cpl. Barnett is survived by his brother, Billy, and two sisters, Mrs. Leon Gibson of Cash and Miss Evelyn Barnett, now in nurses training at Memphis.