Richard Stanley Barnett Veteran's History Interview  June 2014
Channel: Lawrence Molczyk
Date: 06/10/2020

Richard Stanley Barnett was born February 26 1925 in Broomfield Colorado. From June eleventh 1943 to October eleventh 1945 he served in the US Army. He served in England but flew over Germany and France engaging in battles in northern France, the Adenne, Rhineland and Central Europe. He received numerous medals and special service awards including two bronze stars an air metal and the distinguished flying Cross during his enlistment. He worked as an assistant radio operator, and armorer gunner in a B-17. During this interview he relates a final flight from Czechoslovakia where his plane was attacked by a German squadron. The plane was heavily damaged and several crew members were killed and wounded. The damaged plane was kept aloft long enough to crash land in the French Alps, where he remained lost in action for over a year.

This June 2014 interview was conducted for submission to the Library of Congress American Folklife veterans history project by Lawrence Molczyk who was an employee at the Grand Island Veterans Home in Nebraska where Barnett was a resident.