Evening star., 1943-05-23
Jops Call Out Officers Name,
Barely Miss When He Looks Up
Enemy Good Fighters,
But Dislike Boyonets,
Copt. Barrett Says

Capt. Charles D. Barrett, jr., o.
U. S. M. c., son of Maj. Gen. Barrett
of Alexandria. Va, has been awarded
the Silver Star Medal for conspicu-
GUS gallantry and intrepidity in ac-
ton against the enemy
He knows the Jap soldiers almost
too well, he declared recently in dis
cuSsing an incident in 1912 when the
marines were still on Guadalcanal
and the Japs became acquainted
with his name by hearing his men
talking 70 him close to the Jap lines
A bullet tnat came much too close
would really have had my name on
it," he said.
Gen. Barrett is now commanding
marines somewhere in the Pacific.
Capt. Barrett is the son-in-law of
Brig. Gen. David L. S. Brewster
also commanding Marines overseas
in the Pacific.
Japs Were Well Prepared.
Capt. Barrett was first lieutenant
at the time ne won the medal. His
citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and in
trepidity in action against the enemy
in the Solomon Islands. On October
5, 1912, while his company was on
combat patrol, 1t. Barrett's platoon,
advancing along a jungle trail run
ming east of the Matanikau River,
was engaged in fire fight by we'll
prepared japanese ambush
LIT. Barrett, completely disregard
ing his own safety, moved forward
to the positions of his men, under
heavy fire supervised their fire fight,
and co-ordinated the movement of
the platoon on his left for an at
tempted encircling movement.
When it became apparent that the
forces Of the enemy were too strong,
he co-ordinated the withdrawal of
the platoon and managed to olsen
gage his men successfully. executing
the withdrawal with a minimum of
casualties
Capt. Barrett subsequently par
tlclpated i'll an attack in force on the
Japanese position which resulted in
the rouJ of the enemy.
Later he was wounded In the
second battle of the Matanikau, but
remained on the firing line for two
days before seeking medical atten-
ton for shrapnel wounds in the leg.
He remained on Guadalcanal until
December when Army units relieved
the Marines, and returned to the
United States to recover from an
attack of malaria, contracted in the
Solomons. He is now at the San
Diego Naval Hospital.
Tells of Action.
Capt. Barrett, although minimiz-
ing his own heroism, brings the dis
passionate wording of the citation to
life in his own description of the
action.
Il had a patrol out" he said,
when we hit this Jap ambush.
The Japs had us pinned down
with heavy and accurate machine
gun fire, and they were trying to
flank us. Well, We stopped that, in
close hand-to-hand fighting and
grenade work.
we were too close to the enemy
for our machine guns to be effective.
and most of the shooting was with
the B. A. R. Drowning automatic
rifle.
The Japs are damn good soldiers.
but they don't like the bayonet, and
our grenades are better than theirs.
Bullet Barely Missed.
"A noncommissioned officer called
to me several times, and the Japs
were so close that they picked up nv
name. A little later some one called
me, and when I looked up, a Jap
bullet missed me by a hair. That
would really have been one with
my name on it, had it gone home.
Anyway, we disengaged success
fully. and got all of our wounded
out"
A graduate of the University of
Virginia, Capt. Barrett enlisted in
the Marine Corps in July, 1941, and
was commissioned in February, 1912.
Capt. Barrett's wife resides with
his mother at 213 South Pitt street,
Alexandria. Va. A sister, Mrs. A. D.
Williams, lives at Alexandria. A
brother-in-law, 1t. David A. Brew
ster, is in the Marine Corps, sta