George Barber, 90; D-Day Troops’ Chaplain
NY Times
George Russell Barber, one of the last surviving chaplains from the U.S. landing at Omaha Beach on D-day during World War II, has died. He was 90.
Barber died Dec. 17 at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier of causes associated with old age, according to his son, Don Barber.
On June 6, 1944, as Allied forces landed in Normandy, Barber was one of four chaplains at Omaha Beach with the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
American troops encountered the fiercest resistance of any Allied force on D-day from German gun emplacements on the cliffs overlooking the beach. According to his son, Barber spent a bloody and chaotic day ministering to the wounded and dying, then dug a foxhole near the cliffs and bedded down for the night.
