Obituary of George Franklin Barmes, Jr.

Bossier City - Another one of America’s Greatest Generation is gone. On Saturday, March 28 2020, Maj (USAF Retired) George Franklin Barmes, Jr passed away peacefully at the age of 95. Due to the pandemic, a memorial service and celebration of his life will be held at a later date. Those who would like to be notified when this service is scheduled may email George’s son Ron Barmes at RonBarmes@yahoo.com.

George was born in April of 1924 in Lewisville, Arkansas, the oldest son of the late George Franklin Barmes and Mary Willie Alexander. He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Patsy Barmes. He is survived by his younger brother and sister-in-law Vernon and Carolyn Barmes of Stecoah, North Carolina and his younger sister Colie Downs of Lewisville, Arkansas; his brother-in-law Joe Jacobs of Hallsville, Texas; his daughter Barbara Buckley of Texarkana, Texas; his son and daughter-in-law Ron and SunOk Barmes of Bossier City, Louisiana; his five grandchildren Brittany Godwin, Brooke Odum, Erica Lazenby, Jonathan Barmes, and Amy Spoon; his eight, soon to be nine, great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

George was raised in Lewisville and Camden, Arkansas. He attended and graduated from Fairview High School in Camden. At age 18, he was drafted and served as an enlisted member of the Army Air Corps from February 1943 to December 1945 - just after the end of WWII. He later joined the newly formed US Air Force in June 1948 and shortly thereafter applied and was accepted to Officer Candidate School. Not long after becoming a Second Lieutenant the Korean War started. He became a navigator/radar operator for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

George was married in October 1952 to Patsy Sue Jacobs of Fordyce, Arkansas. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Okinawa, Japan where bombing missions to North Korea were launched from. In early January 1953, while on one of those missions, the B-29 he was navigating was shot down and he was captured and became a POW. Some two hundred days later he was repatriated after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. He left the Air Force in 1954 but later rejoined in 1958. During the Vietnam War he was stationed in Taiwan but was temporarily stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam on a few occasions. He retired from the Air Force in 1969 and moved to Texarkana, Texas where he taught high school math for many years. George and Patsy moved to Bossier City in 2016 to be cared for by their son and daughter-in-law.

George fought the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12) and will always be remembered for his kindness, goodness, patience and friendship and especially for his wit and sense of humor. Thank you to the staff of the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home in Bossier City for the loving care they gave him in his final few months.

A transcript of an oral history interview of George containing his detailed experience as a POW can be found at this Veterans History Project (American Folklife Center, Library of Congress) link:  https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.83604/