On June 6, 1944, Lieutenant Junior Grade John Golden took off from Camp Kearney, California in the PB4Y-1 Liberator named Pistol Packin’ Mama.  Pistol Packin’ Mama was a former Army Air Forces B-24D Liberator with the tail number 42-40711 assigned to VB-117.  Weather was overcast, with flights restricted to Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) only.  LT Golden did not carry out special IFR procedures.  It is precisely uncertain how the pilot maneuvered in the moments following, although the Liberator broke through the cloud cover between Camp Miramar and Camp Kearney.  He reentered the overcast and came out of the cloud cover again in a steep dive at 100 feet above ground level over Camp Linda Vista.  Attempting to recover from this dive, the pilot reentered the overcast in a climb on a northwesterly heading.  Reappearing below the cloud cover, the plane was rocking from side to side in a power stall.  The left wing hit the ground, with the plane bounding through trees and buildings.  Coming to a final rest, a fuel explosion occurred, launching the tail section over the remainder of the fuselage.  The only three survivors in the crew of 12 were in the tail section and suffered severe injuries.  Along the path of destruction was the supply hut of VB-102.  Nine members of VB-102 were killed with eleven more seriously injured. [1] Among those killed in VB-102’s supply hut was Aviation Chief Ordnanceman Edward Ralph Lamberton.

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The Good Conduct Medal was named to Robert E. Barnhart and dated 1942, and came on a mounted medal bar.  The regulations and history of the medals themselves tell both the story of the medals and when and how the recipient earned the medal.  But, who was Robert Barnhart?  And if the medals and ribbons a service member receives tells the story of their service, what story does this medal bar tell?  The story that follows takes us to the early days of World War II in the Pacific, and a man whose life these events swirled around.

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