Groves C. Barker Jr was born in Oak Park, Illinois on May 4, 1920, to Groves and Gertrude Barker. He joined an older sister Renee. A younger sister Caral arrived in 1930. By that time the family was living in Rutherford New Jersey and Groves Sr working in a management position for Western Electric. The family was very involved in the religious and civic life of the town such as the Rutherford Congregational Church and the Pierrepont School PTA.

Groves graduated from Rutherford High School in 1938. The 1940 Census reports that Groves was working as a Salesman for an “Automobile Agency”. What it does not tell is that Groves had joined the New Jersey National Guard in 1939.

In September of 1940, the 44th Division – comprised of units from the Delaware, New York and New Jersey National Guards was federalized. Groves and 29 other Guardsmen from Passaic County & the southern Bergen County area officially enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 16, 1940 as members of the 119th Medical Regiment. Barker and some of his comrades drove down to Fort Dix for Training in 3 National Guard ambulances. Groves was probably behind the wheel of one as his assigned role in the Guard was Ambulance Driver.

During his time at Fort Dix, Barker was transferred to Headquarters Company of the 57th Infantry Brigade. It was also during his time at “Dix” that Groves met a local girl – Eleanor Reeves and they fell in love. They were married on December 20, 1941 just 13 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The 44th Infantry Division was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington in February of 1942. June 1942 was shaping up to be a big month for the newlyweds. Eleanor had moved to Washington to be close to her husband. By the third week in June she had “left the West Coast to return to her home in NJ after her husband had received notice that he had been accepted for Office Training School and would be sent east in two weeks” No doubt she had also shared the happy news that the couple was expecting their first child in December.

Groves Barker was killed on June 27, 1942 when the jeep he was driving near Hansfield Oregon slid down an 30 foot high embankment. The road’s soft shoulder had given way, and the jeep crashed into a large pile of logs. His body was returned to New Jersey and he was buried on July 6, 1942 in Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst. Among the pall bearers was his friend John “Jack” Brightman. Ironically, Jack Brightman would die in a Plane Crash in New Mexico on January 12, 1944 during training to become an aerial gunner in the Army Air Force.

Candice Barker was born just after Christmas, 1942. She never had the opportunity to know her father.

Barker was one of over 3000 men from Rutherford (1940 Population of 15,466) who served during the war, and one of 95 who lost their lives. Of the 95, twelve died of accidents while in the U.S. – mostly during training but also in traffic and train accidents.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/ ) This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Groves C Barker