Camille Arthur BARNABE

Parents : Napoléon et Delima (Pelletier) BARNABE

Source : Andy

 CEMTERY TEMPORARY of    N°

Story of Cemetery Temporary 

Map of Rhône American Cemetery

Resurrection Cemetery
Cumberland, Providence County, RHODE ISLAND
Source : Mike Phillips

 
Source : Neil O'Connor

Sergeant Camille A. Barnabe, born in Quebec, Canada, 21 Nov 1922, was the son of Napoleon and Delima (Pelletier) Barnabe of Woonsocket, Providence County, Rhode Island. Woonsocket is 15 miles north northwest of Providence.

In the 1930 census 8-year-old Camille is living with his parents and siblings Eva 11, Jean 10, Theophile 6, and step brother Lionel Houle 24, at 397 Rathbun Street in Woonsocket. His parents were French Canadian. His father is a laborer for a woodwork company.

Camille enlisted at Providence 11 Sep 1942. He’d had 1 year of high school and was employed as a machinist. He was single without dependents.

Sgt Barnabe was in the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and probably fluent in French from his French Canadian parents. The OSS was the precursor to the CIA. He was dropped into southern France for sabotage and to coordinate resistance fighters. He was killed 11 Aug 1944, 5 days before the start of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France on 15 Aug 1944.

The NARA WWII casualty listing by state and county show Barnabe, Camille A, Sgt, from Providence County, Rhode Island, as killed in action 11 Aug 1944. Sgt Barnabe was mortally wounded 10 Aug 1944 at Vanosc, France, by shrapnel from fragmentation anti-personnel bombs dropped from German JU-88s. Vanosc was a resistance stronghold in southeastern France 49 miles south southwest of Lyon. Also wounded were 5 from the SOG (special operations group) and 25 Maquis (guerilla resistance fighters). After initial care at French infirmary at Vanosc most were evacuated to the hospital at St. Agreve, 35K away, for further treatment. Sgt. Barnabe did not survive surgery for an abdominal wound.

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From the National Park Service's publication, "OSS in Action: Mediterranean and European Theatres"

OG (Operational Group) Captain William F. Larson and at least three OG enlisted men were killed in action in central and southern France in August 1944. Captain Larson, a member of the “Percy Red” mission, was, as mentioned earlier, mortally wounded in action against a German armored train near Limoges. Technician 5th Grade Raymond Bisson of Rochester, New Hampshire, and Sergeant Camille A. Barnabe from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, had both participated in several successful bridge demolition and other actions behind enemy lines since their infiltration on 26 July. On the night of 3-4 August, Bisson, crawled 60 yards under heavy machine gun fire and destroyed a locomotive with his bazooka in the enemy-held Annonay Station near Ardeche. Five nights later, he helped placed demolitions that destroyed a main railroad bridge near St. Etienne, southwest of Lyons. His friend, Sergeant Barnabe was killed on 10 August, when the Germans bombed the village of Vanosc, a maquis stronghold and the headquarters for the OG section.