Thomas Winch Barrett
(1896-1917)
Embedded Files
Thomas Winch Barrett
SS Jupiter
Gravestone, Landsman Thomas Winch Barrett, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington VA
Shaw High School WWI Memorial at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, OH
The following article was contributed by a volunteer researcher
BIOGRAPHY: Thomas Winch Barrett was born in Cleveland, February 3rd, 1896, and had just become of age when he heard, and enthusiastically obeyed the Call “to arms,” when our honored President declared war upon Germany as a defensive measure- against the unwarranted attacks of submarines upon our American shipping and United States merchantmen, as well as the ruthless taking of lives of hundreds of innocent men, women and children. Young Barrett was the second to offer himself for the aviation service, and we bade him an affectionate “Good-bye, Tommy! God bless you! ” when he departed south to Pensacola, Fla., for training,' April 6th. After two months’ intensive training and study he stood fifth in a list' of two hundred candidates. When called abroad he gave his life on the field of honor at Tours, France, whence came the cable announcing the fatal news June. 28th to his beloved parents, from the military authority, stating, “We are pained and grieved to tell you of the sudden death of your son, Thomas Winch Barrett, the first United States soldier of the expeditionary forces to give his life for his country in' a foreign land.” He, with his French instructor, lost their lives as their aeroplane accidentally fell from a great height upon the aviation field of Tours. Loving hands of his comrades tenderly lifted his body and that of his companion, arid in a few days the impressive burial services took place.
Thomas Winch Barrett
[First U.S. Navy member killed in France during WWI. He was part of the U.S. Navy First Aeronautic Detachment, which arrived in France in June, 1917 and began training on French aircraft.]
*No Plaque located
*The List of Liberty Row Names indicates the possible original location of the plaque.
*No soldier photograph found in the following book: Doyle, A. C., Haulsee, W. M., Howe, F. G. Soldiers of the Great War. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Company, 1920.
Birth: 2/26/1896, Cleveland, Ohio
Birth: 2/26/1896, Cleveland, Ohio
Address: 2159 E. 79th St., Cleveland, OH, 220 Shaw Ave., Cleveland, OH, and 1914 E. 101st St., Cleveland, OH [the latter two his parents' addresses]
Demographics: Caucasian; native-born Clevelander
Appearance: not known
Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft date not known; enlistment date 4/5/1917; rank Landsman Quartermaster (A) [Landsman was the lowest rank in the U.S. Navy at that time. A Landsman quartermaster (A) in WWI was an inexperienced U.S. Navy recruit training to become a quartermaster. The "A" meant that the recruit was training for aviation-related roles, in this case at Pensacola, Florida.
Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft date not known; enlistment date 4/5/1917; rank Landsman Quartermaster (A) [Landsman was the lowest rank in the U.S. Navy at that time. A Landsman quartermaster (A) in WWI was an inexperienced U.S. Navy recruit training to become a quartermaster. The "A" meant that the recruit was training for aviation-related roles, in this case at Pensacola, Florida.
Service Number: 1751076
Deployment: Landsman Quartermaster (A) Thomas Winch Barrett deployed aboard the SS Jupiter. The U.S. Navy's First Aeronautic Detachment as a whole deployed to France in May, 1917 aboard the USS Jupiter and USS Neptune, arriving at Saint-Nazaire, France, on June 7 and 8, 1917. The men were mostly new recruits with little naval experience. They trained with French forces, eventually established the first U.S. Naval Air Stations in France, and created the foundation for the future success of American naval aviation.
Action: USN Retg Sta Cleveland, O. Apr 5/17. Br Cleveland, O. Feb 2/96. Naval Aeronautic Sta Pensacola Fla Apr 6/17 to May 15/17; USS Jupiter to June 9/17; Naval Avia Det 7 Brest France to June 28/17. Lds QM (A) 83 days. Died June 28/17. Naval Avia Det 7 Brest France. LDS QM (A). It was also noted that Landsman Thomas Winch Barrett was sent to the French army instruction school at Tours Aerodrome for basic flight training on French Caquot G-3 aircraft, but shortly after arrival was the first recruit to die due to a training accident.
Death: June 28, 1917 [less than one month after arriving in France] at age 21 at Tours, Departement d'Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France; cause of death Injuries Sustained in a Military Aviation Accident [details not specified]
Death: June 28, 1917 [less than one month after arriving in France] at age 21 at Tours, Departement d'Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France; cause of death Injuries Sustained in a Military Aviation Accident [details not specified]
Burial: remains buried on 1/15/1921 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Section 18 Site 1280; name also inscribed on the Shaw High School WWI Memorial at Lake View Cemetery, 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH, Section 1 to honor the students who died in the Great War
Burial: remains buried on 1/15/1921 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Section 18 Site 1280; name also inscribed on the Shaw High School WWI Memorial at Lake View Cemetery, 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH, Section 1 to honor the students who died in the Great War
Next of Kin: not noted
Next of Kin: not noted
Additional Information: Landsman Quartermaster (A) Thomas Winch Barrett attended Shaw High School, Cleveland, OH and Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Scant information was found about his mother. His father remarried Caroline "Carrie" Searing Barrett in 1924.
Father: Darwin Sherwood Barrett (1865-1945), born New York, occupations included Bookkeeper, Writer of Abstracts, and Title Reader at Title and Trust Co., buried Knollwood Cemetery, 1678 SOM Center Rd., Mayfield Heights, OH, Chapel Mausoleum 608B; Mother: May Twichell Barrett (1870-?), born New York, married 1888; Siblings: Darwin S. Barrett, Jr. (1891-1943), vice-president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and involved in other railroad ventures, and was a close associate of Cleveland financiers O. P. and M. J. Van Sweringen, builders of a vast railroad empire
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