Charles Henry Barth, Jr.
Brigadier General, U.S. Army

Charles Henry Barth, Jr. was born on 1 October 1903 in Leavenworth, KS, the son of Charles Henry and Harriet Barth. His father, U.S. Military Academy Class of 1881, retired from the U.S. Army as a Brigadier General in 1925.

Like his father, Charles also attended West Point. He entered in 1921 and was Honor Man of the Class of 1925 when it graduated on 12 June 1925.

Barth enrolled at Cornell University in 1926 where he earned a degree in Engineering in June 1927. After graduation he studied the subject at the Engineer's Company Officers' School at Fort Humphreys, VA. In July 1928, he became an Instructor in the Department of Civil and Military Engineering at West Point and, on 19 July 1928, was promoted to First Lieutenant. After five years, he taught Chemistry and Electricity in 1933-34. After six years at the Academy, in 1934 Barth was assigned to the 3rd Engineers in Hawaii, serving as Adjutant.

In 1936, Captain Barth was assigned to the Clock Tower in Rock Island, IL, for a three-year assignment as Military Assistant to the District Engineer. In August 1939, he entered the Command and General Staff School in his hometown of Leavenworth, KS, and graduated in February 1940.

Highlights of Barth's military career include:

1940-42 Assistant Supervising Engineer, Panama Canal

1942 Supervising Engineer, Panama Canal

1942-43 Assistant Chief of Staff (G-4), US Army Forces in the Middle East

1943 Chief of Staff, U.S. European Theater of Operations

While serving as Chief of Staff for American forces in the European Theater of Operations, Barth was killed aboard a B-24D Liberator (#41-23728), when it crashed while attempting to land at Kaldadarnes, Iceland, on 3 May 1943. Also killed was his Commander, Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews.

Medals and Awards

Army Distinguished Service Medal
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal

Honors

• Barth Hall, headquarters of the Battle Command Training Center at Fort Leavenworth, KS, was named for Brigadier General Charles Henry Barth, Jr. and his father.

• A star bearing the name Charles Henry Barth, Jr. is located on the Princeton University War Memorial; it also bears the number 1925, the year he graduated from West Point.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General Charles Henry Barth, Jr. died on 3 May 1943 in Iceland. He is buried at the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point in Orange County, NY, in Section XVIII, Row F, Site 56.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=126927552

[Some information in this bio was gleaned from a memorial to Barth written by Russell E. Randall, his classmate at West Point. The entire memorial can be read at http://apps.westpointaog.org/Memorials/Article/7626/.]