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Casualty Info
Home Town Moulton, IA
Last Address Moulton, IA
Casualty Date Jul 09, 1968
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Multiple Fragmentation Wounds
Location Binh Dinh (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Oakland Cemetery - Moulton, Iowa
Wall/Plot Coordinates 52W 008
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Casualty Occurrence: This Soldier was killed by fragmentation wounds from a rocket or mortar 7 KM SOUTH OF TAM QUAN CITY 19680709 Bing Dinh Province. Sgt Barber was on his second tour in Vietnam.
POSTED ON 6.17.2021. POSTED BY: JOHN FABRIS. HONORING YOU.Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. Your devotion to our country as evidenced by your two tours in Vietnam is inspiring. May you rest in eternal peace.
POSTED ON 3.19.2011, POSTED BY: JOSE DIAZ. SGT. BARBER. I arrived at A co. in Dec. 1968 and never got to meet Sgt. Barber. But Lt. Keith Dilworth who knew him personally sent me a picture of him which I am uploading to his site. Lt. Dilworth said that Sgt. Barber was a great person and friend. It was a very sad loss !
Comments/Citation:
POSTED ON 7.8.2003, POSTED BY: HARRY EWALD. A CO.19TH CEB. I served under SGT. Barber at the end of his first tour and the start of his second. Everyone had the utmost respect for his leadership. He has never been forgotten.
Joanne Martenson Woolf, Just Passing By. Oxford, Michigan ~A Tribute, to a Fallen, Soldier~
Remembering, SGT., Harry Barber, on his birth date and thanking him, for his Courage and the Ultimate Sacrifice, he made for Freedom and our Country. You, are a HERO, to all who knew you and loved you and you, will live on, in the Hearts and minds, of your family and friends, FOREVER. I too, lost, a loved one in Vietnam, in 1968 and know the anguish, your family and friends, endured. 'TO LIVE, IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE, YOU LEAVE BEHIND, IS NEVER TO DIE' ~ Robert Orr ~ Rest in Peace, Brave Soldier, and know, that you will, NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. Mar 25, 2010
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.