Army PFC Leonard Curtis Barlow was born in Castleberry, Alabama on May 12, 1920, the son of Loyd H. Barlow (1891-1973) and Frances Elizabeth Reid (1893-1959). His father spent his whole life supporting his large family as a farmer, first in Brushy Creek in Conecuh County then in the Jay community. They moved to Jay in 1936 and spent the rest of their lives there with the help of their older children on the farm.
By 1940, Leonard had obtained a job with President Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, known as the CCC. It was all part of his New Deal legislation to combat high unemployment during the Great Depression by putting thousands of young men to work on environmental conservation projects. That year, Leonard was living in a CCC camp in Keystone Heights, Florida in Clay County, northeast of Gainesville.
Then came Pearl Harbor and America asked for her young men and women to answer the call of patriotism! Exactly one month after the attack on Hawaii, Leonard enlisted in the US Army on January 7, 1942 and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for processing. He was eventually assigned as an infantryman to Company "A" with the 383rd Infantry regiment of the 96th Division. By the time of the Okinawa invasion, he was already a veteran of the battle for Leyte in the Philippines.
When the time came, he and his regiment boarded their transports on March 27, 1945 and sailed for Okinawa, landing on the 1st of April. Their landing was unopposed by design because of what the Japanese had in store for them further inland. As they advanced on Kakazu Ridge on April 7th the fighting turned fierce. The ridge was formed by two hills with a connecting saddle that formed part of the Japanese outer defenses. The enemy had prepared their positions well and fought tenaciously from their fortified caves. As the American assault stalled, the enemy decided to take the offensive. On the evening of April 12th, the Japanese attacked the American positions across the entire front. The Japanese attack was heavy, sustained, and well-organized causing tremendous casualties for the Americans. Jay, Florida's PFC Barlow was one of those killed that day. The medical report stated that he was killed by multiple artillery shrapnel wounds to the chest area. Regardless of how he died, he sacrificed his life for his nation and is forever due the honor thereof!
He was buried in a makeshift cemetery on the island along with thousands of other young men until his body could be returned home to his family in 1949. His body was loaded upon the "SS Sargent Jack Pendleton" next to another Pensacola boy that had been killed nine days after Leonard. Upon arrival in Jay, he was buried in the Cora Baptist Cemetery where he rests surrounded by his family today.
Comments