Joe Barron
| Date and Place of Birth: | September 29, 1919 Pennsylvania |
| Date and Place of Death: | March 19, 1945, off coast of Japan, Pacific Ocean |
| Baseball Experience: | Amateur |
| Position: | Second Base |
| Rank: | Shipfitter Second Class |
| Military Unit: | US Navy |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
Joseph A. “Joe” Barron was born on September 29, 1919 in
Pennsylvania. The Barron’s moved to New Jersey in the 1920s and Joe
attended Gloucester High School where he played second base and led-off
for the school baseball team. Following high school, Barron continued to
play baseball in the Camden County League for the Brooklawn and Audubon
teams. In 1942, he hit .377 for Audubon.
Barron worked at the New York Shipbuilding Company and entered the Navy
on his 23rd birthday in 1942. Shipfitter Second Class Barron served on
the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) in the Pacific. On February
13, 1945, Barron’s father, Harry, passed away. It is doubtful Joe was
ever aware of this because just before dawn on March 19, 1945, the USS
Franklin, which had maneuvered to within 50 miles of the Japanese
mainland, was attacked by a single Japanese aircraft that made a low
level run on the ship to drop two semi-armor-piercing bombs. One bomb
struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck,
causing destruction and igniting fires through the second and third
decks, and knocking out the Combat Information Center. The second hit
aft, tearing through two decks and fanning fires which triggered
ammunition, bombs and rockets. The Franklin lay dead in the water, lost
all radio communications, and was enveloped in flames. Among the 724
crewmen killed that day was Shipfitter Second Class Joe Barron. The USS
Franklin limped to Pearl Harbor.
Joseph Barron is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the
Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.
Some of this information was obtained from www.dvrbs.com
Date Added: October 16, 2012
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