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<em>Joseph Robert Barker, II</em> was born in Birmingham, April 27, 1915. He was christened by Dr. Edmonds on the last Sunday before the founding of the Independent Presbyterian Church. He was received into its membership on the occasion of the dedication of the new church building, at the age of twelve.</p>
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School and college preparatory work was done at Birmingham University School, where he was graduated in 1932. As a boy he was passionately fond of horses and this fondness perhaps led him to join the Birmingham Sabres, Cavalry Unit of the Alabama National Guard. While in the Guard he served as General Persons’ orderly on several tours of strike duty in the Birmingham District. A statewide competitive examination sent him as the representative of the Alabama National Guard to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry in the United States Army in 1938.</p>
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His first assignment was the Philippines. He served with Philippine Scouts in the now famous 26th Cavalry Regiment for two and a half years before Pearl Harbor. He came to like the country and the people, learned the native languages, and delved into the history of the Islands and made collections of the ceramic relics of the early Chinese settlements there. In his leisure time, he played polo and participated in the social life in Manila.</p>
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By the Spring of 1941, the war clouds had already begun to gather in the Pacific. Preparations for defense went forward steadily throughout the year until the blow finally fell in December. The story of the heroic fight against overwhelmingly superior forces and equipment, through Bataan and Corregidor, to the bitter end, is known to all the world.</p>
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After Bataan he did not surrender, but went back into his familiar mountains and gradually worked his way through the Japanese lines to join Colonel Thorpe, who had been commissioned by General MacArthur to begin the organization of guerrillas, even before the surrender of the American forces. Barker became Thorpe’s Executive Officer and succeeded him in command shortly thereafter upon Thorpe’s capture by the Japanese. He continued an aggressive and widespread campaign of organization through the Central Plain of Luzon, making his way in the disguise of a priest into the city of Manila, under the very shadow of the enemy’s headquarters. The soundness of his program is evidenced by the fact that, although he was himself betrayed and captured on January 14, 1943, the guerrilla movement lived and grew and, in the words of an officer of the high command, contributed in large measure to the ultimate success of our arms in the Battle for Luzon.</p>
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Word has come that his former associates among the Filipinos have organized movements for the erection of monuments to his memory on the sites of his headquarters in three of the native towns. The following awards have been made in recognition of Captain Barker’s work:</p>
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Distinguished Service Cross, awarded upon the recommendation of General Douglas MacArthur and by order of the President of the United States, in recognition of his work done in the guerrilla campaign.</p>
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Silver Star for gallantry in action at Binalonan, Luzon, on December 24, 1941.</p>
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Legion of Merit, for the skillful handling of his troops throughout the Battle of Bataan.</p>
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Purple Heart.</p>
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