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Ken enlisted in the Navy on August 13, 1941, serving during World War II on the USS Barnett as a carpenters mate. Ken received his boot training at Great Lakes, Illinois. His petty officer rating came the hard way -through active combat service- as he did not attend a navy service school. He served in both oceans and saw special action at Guadalcanal, Sicily and Italy. Ken was with the first forces to set troops ashore in the French invasion. His ship, the Barnett, is recorded as having escorted the first wave of small assault boats which set troops ashore in the D-Day invasion. He survived a suicide bombing and was honorably discharged on September 22, 1945 as a Carpenters Mate First Class. Ken received an Honorable Discharge Button, Honorable Discharge Emblem and Honorable Service Lapel Button.
Other Comments:
USS Barnett (AP-11, later APA-5), 1940-1946
USS Barnett, a 9432-ton transport, was built in 1928 in England as the civilian passenger ship Santa Maria. She was purchased by the Navy in August 1940 and commissioned the following month. During the rest of 1940 and in 1941 she took part in amphibious training exercises in the Caribbean area. In 1942, following the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan, Barnett went to the Pacific, where she participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal in August and the subsequent campaign to hold that island in the face of Japanese efforts to retake it.
Reclassified as an attack transport in February 1943, with the new hull number APA-5, Barnett spent that year and the next in the Atlantic war theater. During 1943 she was part of the amphibious forces that supported the landings on Sicily in July and at Salerno in September. During the Sicily operation, on 11 July 1943, Barnett was near-missed by an enemy bomb, which damaged the ship and killed seven of the Army troops on board. The transport was also active during the Normandy invasion in June 1944 and in the invasion of Southern France in August and September 1944.
Barnett returned to the Pacific in time to participate in the Okinawa landings in April 1945 and steamed back to the United States shortly after the end of the war with Japan. In May 1946, USS Barnett was decommissioned at Newport, Rhode Island. She was transferred to the Maritime Commission in July 1946.
USS BARNETT (APA-5) received seven battle stars for World War II service: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - Navy Unit Commendation (7) - American Defense Medal - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (4) - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Medal (with Asia Clasp).
George Barnett--born on 9 December 1859 at Lancaster, Wis.--entered the Naval Academy in June 1877 and graduated in 1881. Following two years of sea service as a naval cadet, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on 1 July 1883. After duty at various marine barracks on the east coast, as well as three years in Alaskan waters on board Pinta, he advanced to first lieutenant in September 1890 while serving in the steam sloop-of-war Iroquois. Lt. Barnett then served at the Marine Barracks at the Washington Navy Yard until June 1896 when he went on board the receiving ship Vermont in New York City. He reported to San Francisco in December 1897 for sea duty and then transferred to the protected cruiser New Orleans the following April, just in time for service in the Spanish-American War. Barnett's ship joined the Flying Squadron off Santiago de Cuba on 30 May, bombarded the harbor batteries on 6 and 16 June, and captured the French blockade runner Olinde Rodrigues on 17 July. Promoted to captain on 11 August 1898, he transferred to the protected cruiser Chicago in November of that year, serving in that ship during cruises to the Caribbean, the south Atlantic, and European waters. Capt. Barnett came ashore for duty at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C., in May 1901. Promoted to major shortly thereafter, Barnett next took command of a battalion that embarked in the auxiliary cruiser Panther in September 1902. The warship sailed to the Caribbean that month, where Barnett's battalion landed to guard the railway transit of the Isthmus of Panama. In January 1903, he took command of another battalion guarding naval facilities in the Manila Bay area of the Philippines. While there, Barnett also served in several ships of the Asiatic Fleet. Returning to Washington in April 1905, Maj. Barnett advanced to lieutenant colonel and served as the commanding officer of the Washington Navy Yard Marine Barracks for the next year. When civil war threatened in Cuba in mid-1906, Barnett took command of an expeexpeditionary battalion, later growing to a regiment, in September. Transported to Havana on board the cruiser Minneapolis, Barnett's force soon moved to Cienfuegos, where it deployed to occupy the towns of western and central Cuba. A large Army force relieved the marines in November, and Barnett returned to Washington in November 1906. After commanding the Marine Barracks for a year, Lt. Col. Barnett took over the 100-man Marine Corps detachment at the American Legation in Peking, China, arriving there in early 1908. He returned to the United States during the summer of 1910 and assumed command of the Philadelphia Marine Barracks, in which billet he received his promotion to colonel on 11 October. Over the next three years, Col. Barnett made repeated deployments to Cuba, in command of the 1st Marines, in order to quell serious domestic disturbances on the island. The most serious of these expeditions took place in 1912, when Barnett took the 1st Marines to Guantanamo Bay on 28 May. Most of the marines returned to the United States by early August. Appointed to a four-year detail as Major General Commandant of the Marine Corps on 21 February 1914, Barnett led the Corps during a time of unprecedented activity and expansion. He worked hard to draw the Marine Corps into closer and more cordial relations with the Navy, directed several important expeditions to countries in the Caribbean, and administered the Marine Corps through its great expansion during World War I. In April 1914, when American forces landed at Veracruz, Mexico, Barnett sent a reinforced brigade of marines to that city. He also stationed an expeditionary force off the west coast of Mexico later that year. When civil wars broke out in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1915, Barnett placed a full brigade of marines in each of these countries to maintain order and keep the peace. Barnett also guided the Marine Corps as it expanded to 3,000 officers and 75,500 enlisted men during World War I--building training centers in Virginia and South Carolina, sending reinforcements to regular marine stations, and dispatching two Marine brigades to France. Made brigadier general on 29 August 1916, Barnett not only shepherded the Marine Corps through its wartime activities, but also through the difficult period of demobilization and reorganization at the close of the war in late 1918. For his outstanding service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the Secretary of the Navy. Relieved as Commandant of the Marine Corps on 1 July 1920, he was given the rank of major general on 5 March 1921. Major General Barnett served the remaining years of active service as Commanding General of the Department of the Pacific. He retired on 9 December 1923 and died on 27 April 1930. Major General Barnett was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Photo: USMC History Division
McCawley Class Transport
Built in 1928 at Furness Ship Building Co., Haverton Hill-on-Tees, England, as the passenger steamer SS Santa Maria
Launched in 1928
Delivered to her owners Grace Steamship Co.(Grace Lines), date unknown
Purchased by the US Navy in August 1940, from Grace LInes
Converted for naval service at Todd-Shipyards, Corp., Hoboken, N.J.
Commissioned USS Barnett (AP-11), 25 September 1940, at New York Navy Yard, CAPT. Lyell S. Pamperin USN in command
During World War II USS Barnett was assigned to both the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
While assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater USS Barnett came under the command of TransRon Ten, CAPT. B. Bartlett USN (22); TransDiv One
Reclassified Attack Transport(APA-5), 1 February 1943
Decommissioned, 30 April 1946, at Newport, RI
Struck from the Navy Register, 21 May 1946
USS Barnett earned seven battle stars for World War II service
Transferred to the War Shipping Administration, 3 July 1946, for disposal at the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA.
Sold, 25 February 1948 to M.S. Surrimento S.P.A. (Achille Lauro Ltd.), (PD-X-420) for $613,000.00, Withdrawn from the Reserve Fleet, 13 April 1948, reflagged Italian, renamed SS Achille Lauro I
Final Disposition, scrapped at La Spezia, Italy, September 1966
Other Memories USS Barnett (AP-11, later APA-5), 1940-1946
USS Barnett, a 9432-ton transport, was built in 1928 in England as the civilian passenger ship Santa Maria. She was purchased by the Navy in August 1940 and commissioned the following month. During the rest of 1940 and in 1941 she took part in amphibious training exercises in the Caribbean area. In 1942, following the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan, Barnett went to the Pacific, where she participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal in August and the subsequent campaign to hold that island in the face of Japanese efforts to retake it.
Reclassified as an attack transport in February 1943, with the new hull number APA-5, Barnett spent that year and the next in the Atlantic war theater. During 1943 she was part of the amphibious forces that supported the landings on Sicily in July and at Salerno in September. During the Sicily operation, on 11 July 1943, Barnett was near-missed by an enemy bomb, which damaged the ship and killed seven of the Army troops on board. The transport was also active during the Normandy invasion in June 1944 and in the invasion of Southern France in August and September 1944.
Barnett returned to the Pacific in time to participate in the Okinawa landings in April 1945 and steamed back to the United States shortly after the end of the war with Japan. In May 1946, USS Barnett was decommissioned at Newport, Rhode Island. She was transferred to the Maritime Commission in July 1946.
