If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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).
World War II/European-African-Middle Eastern Theater/Southern France Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
August / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944
Description (Southern France Campaign 15 August to 14 September 1944) While the Germans were retreating in Italy in the summer of 1944, the Allies diverted some of their strength in the theater to the invasion of Southern France. After preliminary bombardment, a combined seaborne-airborne force landed on the French Riviera on 15 August. Marseilles having been taken, Sevmth Army advanced up the Rhone Valley and by mid-September was in touch with Allied forces that had entered France from the north.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories 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.
