Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 04/04/1916
- Date of Discharge
- 16/09/1919
- Place of Enlistment
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 05/05/1895
- Place of Birth
- Mulgrave, Victoria
- Address (at enlistment)
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
- Occupation
- Soldier
- Next of Kin
- Richard Barker (father), Springvale, Victoria
Unit and Rank Details
- Final Rank
- Captain
- Final Unit
- 12 Field Artillery Brigade AIF
Awards and Honours
Military Cross (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 17 June 1919, page 1011, position 60)
Notes
Barker entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in March 1914 and graduated early, along with the rest of his class, in April 1916. He arrived in England in July 1916 as a Lieutenant with the 30th Battery, 8th Field Artillery Brigade and transferred to the 31st Battery in January 1917 in France. He was slightly wounded during the preparatory bombardment for the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and transferred to the 39th (infantry) Battalion shortly after. He was shot in the back during fighting near Zonnebeke, Belgium in October 1917 and sent to England for treatment. Whilst there he was promoted to Captain and rejoined his unit in France in November 1917. In early 1918 Barker was sent to the artillery school at Heytesbury in England and returned to the front and joined the 46th Battery of the 12th Field Artillery Brigade in May 1918. During the fighting along the Hindenburg Line in September 1918 that year, Barker acted as a liaison officer with the American infantry. While in that role he earned the Military Cross "on the 28th September west of Bellicourt when the flank of the 30th American Division was exposed, with one other bayonet man, Captain Barker bombed his way along a trench under heavy machine gun fire, re-established an important flanking post; and at great personal risk reconnoitred across a difficult enemy pocket on the flank; giving information to the Division of the greatest value for the operation of the following morning." During World War 2 he served in the Middle East and New Guinea. Barker died on 13 December 1981 aged 86 years. He had been living at Corryong, Victoria.
Description - height 5 feet 10½ inches, weight 172 pounds, chest 35-38 inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, fair hair, Church of England.
Sources
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Collection Records : P0151.010 - P0151.023, PR84/323
The Canberra Times - 17 December 1981