Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Army Distinguished Service Cross group of six representative of those awarded to Corporal James N. Barba, 502nd Parachute Infantry, U.S. Army, who parachuted into Normandy, 6 June 1944 and died of wounds, 13 June 1944

Army Distinguished Service Cross, unnamed, slot brooch suspension; Purple Heart, enamelled, reverse machine engraved, ‘James N. Barba’, slot brooch suspension; Army Good Conduct Medal, reverse inscribed, ‘James N. Barba’; American Campaign Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, arrow head and star on ribbon; Victory Medal 1945, good very fine and better (6) £60-80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Named and Attributable American Medal Groups.

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Note: the above medals are representative of those awarded to Corporal James N. Barba.

Army D.S.C. citation: Corporal James N. Barba, 11065499, 502nd Parachute Infantry, United States Army.

‘For extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy on 6 June 1944, in France. Corporal Barba parachuted into France prior to dawn of D-Day, and, moving forward with his unit, was pinned down by a fortified road block which had to be reduced in order to permit use of the road to following units. Determining that it would be necessary to attract sufficient attention from the flank in order to frontally assault the enemy, he volunteered to go into the position with hand grenade and sub-machine gun and to create the necessary confusion within. Completely disregarding his personal safety and displaying great fortitude, Corporal Barba crossed 50 yards of mined field and a double apron barbed wire in the face of heavy machine gun fire to reach the inner defenses of the enemy. Rushed as soon as he entered the first trench, he threw hand grenades and fired his gun into the enemy, killing two of them and drawing sufficient attention and fire to enable his comrades to advance and demolish the position, before he himself was fatally wounded. Corporal Barba's determined action, initiative, and courage constituted a demonstration of the spirit of self-sacrifice and set an example in the eyes of his men long to be remembered. Entered military service from Pennsylvania.’

James Nicholas Barba was born in New Haven, Connecticut on 24 March 1921. A Shipping Clerk by occupation, he enlisted into the Army for the Field Artillery at Hartford, Connecticut on 11 March 1942. As a Corporal in the 502nd Parachute Infantry he jumped in the early hours of 6 June 1944, before the ‘D-Day’ seaborne landings, and advancing with others towards their objective of St. Martin de Varreville, came in contact with the enemy outside of St. Mere Eglise. It was here that Barba was fatally wounded earning the Army D.S.C. Suffering from head wounds, Barba died on 13 June 1944.

With copied service papers; together with riband bar; ribbon, three cloth and two metal badges for display purposes.

This lot is sold as seen and is not subject to return. Please see saleroom notice on lot 280 for fuller details.