Robert Benjamin Barrett
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Robert Benjamin Barrett
Mr. Barrett entered the Navy on May 21, 1943. Home at entry: Duluth, Minnesota.
He served as a Storekeeper Second Class aboard the destroyer USS Pritchett (DD 561). His ship steamed 186,000 miles; the first ship assigned to radar picket duty between Okinawa and Japan; the first and last vessel to be damaged by enemy air craft at Okinawa (struck by a bomb April 3, 1945, and by a Japanese Kamikaze July 29, 1945); and the first vessel to sight the coast of China and Philipines. Arrived back in the U.S. on August 29, 1945.
Served at Truk, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Philppines. Also served aboard the destroyer USS Laws (DD 558).
He was separated on April 20, 1946.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 32.
