FULTON – In 1861, the government created a special medal to honor those heroes that exhibit valor in action against an enemy force.
It is the highest honor a member of the armed forces can earn and it is presented to recipients by the president in the name of our Congress.
Today we know it as The Medal of Honor and of the millions of soldiers who have served since 1861 the medal has only been awarded to 3,498 individuals.
One of those 3,498 individuals happens to be from Fulton. Due to the passage of time, most people in the Fulton community do not know about this man or his accomplishments.
He earned his medal in the most important battle in the most important war in our nation’s history and this is his story.
Carlton W. Barrett was born on November 24, 1919, in Fulton. He grew up in this small city and attended Fulton schools.
Barrett left high school without graduating, which in today’s world would cause some to label him a quitter.
As it turns out, his story is a perfect example of the dangers of being judgmental of others.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940, about one month before his 21st birthday.
On June 6, 1944, Operation Overlord or D -Day as it is commonly known, saw the greatest armada in the history of the world make its way across the English Channel.
On D-Day, he found himself on the beaches of Normandy, France, under withering fire in conditions reminiscent of the opening scene of the motion picture Saving Private Ryan.
Private Barrett’s assigned duty on that longest day was a field guide, a soldier that helps coordinate troops and communications. Those duties might sound somewhat simplistic, but there was nothing simplistic on the beaches of France on June 6, 1944.
Barrett, at only 5’2” (or maybe 5’3”) and 125 pounds (about the size of a sixth grader), swam struggling comrades into shore and swam wounded soldiers out to evacuation boats.
Additionally, he calmed panicked men and ran messages up and down the beach with no regard for his personal safety.
He did all of this while disregarding three shrapnel and bullet wounds.
Eventually, he was evacuated off the beach after a blast shattered the bones in one of his feet.
The following is Pvt. Barrett’s Medal of Honor Citation of his actions on that day:
For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in the vicinity of St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France. On the morning of D-day Pvt. Barrett, landing in the face of extremely heavy enemy fire, was forced to wade ashore through neck-deep water.
Disregarding the personal danger, he returned to the surf again and again to assist his floundering comrades and save them from drowning. Refusing to remain pinned down by the intense barrage of small-arms and mortar fire poured at the landing points, Pvt. Barrett, working with fierce determination, saved many lives by carrying casualties to an evacuation boat lying offshore.
In addition to his assigned mission as guide, he carried dispatches the length of the fire-swept beach; he assisted the wounded; he calmed the shocked; he arose as a leader in the stress of the occasion.
His coolness and his dauntless daring courage while constantly risking his life during a period of many hours had an inestimable effect on his comrades and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.
What the citation does not say is that he himself was wounded, all while saving the lives of his comrades.
Pvt. Barrett was shot or hit with shrapnel in both hips and the left leg.
It was not until a fourth wound to his foot (shrapnel shattered the bones) that he needed to be evacuated off the beach.
When Pvt. Barrett was asked about his actions on that day, he would never retell his story, he would humbly state: “It was after that that I knew what a hero really is. They are all heroes just for being there – especially those that never came back. Memorial Day and D-Day are good days to remember them.”
Barrett was one of four Medal of Honor recipients on June 6, 1944, and sadly, he was the only one who lived to tell his story.
While recovering from his wounds, Pvt. Barrett developed two bouts of Malaria and was not discharged from the hospital for five months, until October 1944.
Barrett remained in the United States Army for another 19 years, retiring as a staff sergeant in 1963.
He was always reluctant to talk about that day on June 6, 1944, and when asked about it, he consistently refocused the conversations to ‘the heroes who didn’t make it home.’
Sergeant Barrett retired to California to spend time with his wife and two daughters.
He passed away on May 3, 1986, at the age of 66.
This article originally appeared in 2017
He was the vision of a “True HERO”. He never feared for his own life, but he saved so many others. Fulton should be VERY PROUD of Corporal Barrett. Maybe a committee could raise funds to commission a Statue of Corporal Carlton Barrett in Veterans Park by City Hall.
In 1959-60 I was in the army in Babenhausen Germany. I was in the same outfit as Carlton W. Barret. I was 18 years old. He and I became very good friends. We would hang out together at the enlisted mens club. I knew of his medal, but I never asked him about it. I have been watching the news coverage on TV all week. It angers me, that I haven’t seen his name mentioned one time, although there has been coverage of others that did much less them him.