James Stryker Barnett was born at Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee on November 22, 1922. His parents were John E. Barnett (15 Sep 1893 – 20 Aug 1969) and Margaret S. 'Peggy' Barnett (25 Mar 1893 – 13 May 1976), who lived on Fizer Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. He completed four years of high school and worked as a construction foreman. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, on December 29, 1942. His wife was Mary Catherine (Goodman) Barnett. They married at New Orleans, Louisiana a few months before he went overseas. His son, James Jr, was born about three months after his death.
He completed Army Air Forces navigation training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Joseph M. Sugarman Jr. The Sugarman crew completed B-17 operational training in the States, and deployed to England. The crew was assigned to the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived at Station 137 by February 13, 1945, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On March 11, 1945, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched forty aircraft to bomb an industrial area and shipyards on the south bank of the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany. This was the fifth combat mission for the Sugarman crew.
F/O Barnett and eight of his crew mates were killed in action on March 11, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38888, was shot down by flak at Hamburg, Germany. The aircraft crashed at 1310 hours near Meckelfeld, about 20 kilometers south of Hamburg. One man, radio operator T/Sgt Harvey F. Schlotte, survived and became a prisoner of war. The dead were buried initially at the cemetery in Sinstorf, a southern suburb of Hamburg.
His remains were returned to the United States and reinterred at Calvary Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee on June 11, 1949.
B-17G 43-38888 crew:
• Sugarman Jr, Joseph M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Crosland Jr, William S – F/O – Copilot – KIA
• Barnett, James S – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Owen, Charles V – Sgt – Togglier – KIA
• Stanton, Willard W – S/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Schlotte, Harvey F – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – POW
• Mau, Eldon A – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Yaegle, Clyde L – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Berger, Robert M – Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Simac, Edward A – Sgt – Tail Gunner – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com