Keeping the Planes Flying - Walter Barnett served in logistical support role with Army Air Forces in WWII

A native of Tipton, Walter Barnett spent years managing businesses before being drafted into the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 at the age of 33. Drawing upon his experience operating a grocery store and meat market, he served overseas as a meat cutter with the 94th Air Depot Group, helping feed the mechanics and support personnel who kept Allied aircraft flying during World War II. After the war, he returned to Missouri, where he continued a successful career in business. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Amick.

Immediately after graduating from Tipton High School, Walter Barnett demonstrated a talent for managing businesses. Years later, despite being married and well into his thirties, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. Rather than serving in a combat unit, however, his experience operating a grocery store and meat market led Army officials to assign him to a logistical support role that helped feed the airmen responsible for keeping combat aircraft flying.

Barnett and his siblings were raised in Tipton and attended the local schools. He graduated from Tipton High School in 1928, where he excelled academically and served as one of his senior class officers. After graduation, he entered the business world, joining Lloyd Burriss in operating the Tipton Auto and Tire Laundry, an automotive maintenance and cleaning shop.

"Walter Barnett, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Barnett … and Miss Pauline Lehman, daughter of Mrs. D.W. Lehman, of California, were united in marriage at California Sunday by Justice of the Peace, F.E. Eberhart," announced The Tipton Times on July 29, 1932.

The newspaper continued, "The wedding, which joined in wedlock two of the county's most prominent and well known families, was unannounced, the only attendants being Miss Florence Eberhart … and Bennie McCulloch … close friends of the bride and groom."

As a young husband, Barnett continued expanding his management experience through a variety of positions. In 1933, he became manager of the M.F.A. Service Station in California, Missouri. Two years later, he accepted a district agency with the National Life and Accident Insurance Company of Nashville.

Like many Americans struggling through the Great Depression, Barnett adapted to changing economic conditions by pursuing new opportunities. In the late 1930s, he managed the Community Cooperative Company Store in Wichita, Kansas, before transferring to the company's Columbia location. These experiences eventually gave Barnett and his wife the confidence to own a business of their own.

"Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barnett have moved from Columbia to California where they have purchased the Sanitary Grocery formerly operated by F.W. Balke," The Tipton Times reported on May 24, 1940.
For the next three years, the couple operated the grocery store and meat market until the 33-year-old Barnett received his induction notice into the U.S. Army. Before reporting for duty at Fort Leavenworth in late March 1943, they made the difficult decision to close their business.

Barnett was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces and completed initial training at Kearns Army Air Base in Utah before transferring to Frederick Army Airfield in Oklahoma. While stationed there, he learned of the death of his father, Ed Barnett, on July 18, 1944.

The California Democrat reported on February 22, 1945, "Pfc. and Mrs. Walter Barnett are here on his delay en route furlough from Frederick, Okla. Air Field to Greensboro, N.C., where he will report February 20. Mrs. Barnett will remain here with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Lehman, for awhile."

The following month, Barnett departed for England before continuing to France, where he joined the Quartermaster Corps as a member of the 94th Air Depot Group. Air depot groups played a vital role in the European Theater by repairing damaged aircraft, overhauling engines and equipment, and ensuring combat aircraft quickly returned to service. Supporting those specialists required an equally dependable supply system.

Drawing upon years of grocery and meat market experience, Barnett served as a meat cutter in the food service section. Preparing food for hundreds of mechanics, technicians and support personnel was essential to maintaining around-the-clock operations that kept Allied aircraft in the air. After spending nearly nine months overseas, he returned to the United States in late November 1945 and received his discharge at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis.

Civilian life quickly resumed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barnett are announcing in this issue the opening of their new women's ready-to-wear and men's furnishing store, to take place Saturday, in the room formerly occupied by the Hatterie," explained the California Democrat on February 28, 1946. "Mr. Barnett has put in a lot of time since the first of the year refinishing the room and preparing the fixtures and has done an excellent job," the newspaper added.

Like before the war, Barnett spent the following decades building and managing successful businesses. In 1947, he and his wife welcomed their only child, David. Soon afterward, he purchased Barnett's Mobil Station near the intersection of old U.S. Highway 50 and State Highway 87. After selling the station in 1952, he became warehouse manager for the M.F.A. Cooperative Association in California. Later that year, he mourned the loss of his mother.

In 1956, the family relocated to St. Joseph, where Barnett managed another M.F.A. Cooperative before he and his wife purchased and operated a local drug store. By the late 1960s, they had returned to California, Missouri, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Walter Barnett died on Aug. 14, 1986, at the age of 76 and was buried in California Masonic Cemetery. His wife survived him by 18 years, while their son preceded her in death in 1991.

Although Barnett never served on the front lines, his wartime contribution reflected an often-overlooked reality of World War II. Victory depended not only upon pilots, infantrymen and tank crews, but also upon the thousands of Americans whose work behind the scenes kept military operations functioning.

"Logistics is all of war-making, except shooting the guns, releasing the bombs, and firing the torpedoes," observed Admiral Lynde D. McCormick.

Barnett's military service may not have carried the dramatic imagery often portrayed in Hollywood films, but it was indispensable. By helping feed the men who repaired and maintained Allied aircraft, he quietly played a part in keeping the planes—and ultimately the war effort—moving toward victory.
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Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the upcoming World War II biography "415 Days," which chronicles the life and career of the late Wilburn Rowden.