16 Sep 2001 This memorial is to Lieutenant Robert C. Barnes, USMC, a patriot and friend who did his duty to God and Country. I think of you often and remember the times when we were room-mates on Yale Street as Midshipmen at the University of New Mexico. From a friend, Loren H. Page, Captain USNR (Ret) E-Mail mail address not available 16 Sep 2001 2nd Lt Robert Barnes also is remembered by his comrades of the 1st Recon Battalion

 

23 May 2002 Dear Captain Page, Robert Crozier Barnes (1944-1968) was my first cousin. He was one of only three cousins I had, and the closest thing I ever had to an older brother. He was about 7 years older than me. For the most part he was raised by our grandmother, Annie Lee Frazier Crowley, in Decatur Ga, and as a kid I remember spending lots of weekends and summers there with him and his two sisters Barbara and Diane. Robert went off to college when I was still in grammar school, but I remember seeing him soon after he had graduated and decided to go into the USMC. I vividly remember seeing him sometime later, in uniform, and recall him joking about having been "killed" several times in war games exercises. That memory has probably stuck with me because it wasn't much later - maybe a year or 18 months later? - that we got word that he had been killed in Vietnam shortly after having been deployed there. I definitely remember that I was 17 years old at the time, having just finished my junior year in high school. I still remember that my family was spending that summer at Lake Burton in the North Georgia mountains when we heard (probably that June), and I remember everyone crying; my Dad (Robert's uncle), my Mom, my three brothers and me. They all left to return to Decatur to be with our grandmother and with Robert's mother, Anne Crowley Barnes, but I stayed up at the Lake, alone, truly grieving, but frankly also giving reign to my own fears about being drafted and venting my teenage angst. The weird thing is, I spent that next week driving to and from a nearby mountain stream gathering hundreds of smooth river stones and bringing them back to our cabin. I built a little wall and walkway with them - you could sit on the wall part - and dedicated my work to Robert's memory.... Recently I visited the site and was saddened to see that our old cabin had been torn down and replaced with a fancy lodge. However, the chimney of the new structure is made from exactly the same kind of stone I used for my little "memorial wall", and I have to believe that Robert's stones ended up in that chimney. Those old teenage memories came flooding back when I took my son Hayes up to DC to the real Wall a couple of years ago and showed him Robert's name. They came back again when I ran across your memorial site. No real point in telling you all this, but it gave me an opportunity to revisit my own memories of Robert, and I rather enjoyed the visit. I don't know whether any other family members have seen your memorial site or contacted you - there are few of us left and we are far-flung and no longer in touch - but for myself and on behalf of all four of his first cousins (the other three are my brothers), I offer our heartfelt thanks for the memorial you are sponsoring. Thank you. Sincerely, Carl Crowley cacrowley@GeorgiaLaw.org cacrowley@mindspring.com

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