NEW LONDON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Three words rung out as a funeral service for three New London brothers killed in action during the Pearl Harbor attacks was held Saturday.
“Freedom is not free.”
Navy Fireman 1st Class Malcolm J. Barber, 22, Navy Fireman 1st Class LeRoy K. Barber, 21, and Navy Fireman 2nd Class Randolph H. Barber, 19, were laid to rest, after their remains were identified in June.
It’s why the small community of New London showed up to Saturday’s funeral service, remembering stories of their own.
“He looked up and saw all these planes and thought, ‘why are the guys practicing on a Sunday?’” recounted Steve Jeffers. “Well, he didn’t look close enough. They were Japanese planes and they started dropping bombs on our men.”
Jeffers is retelling the only war memory his dad was willing to talk about.
Jeffers keeps a framed picture of his dad and his dad’s medals tucked away to this day, and says if he could talk to the remaining Barber family himself…
“I would just thank them for taking extra effort to make a day like today happen,” said Jeffers. “The family deserves it and to bring them all back home… that’s gonna be quite a ceremony.”
Meanwhile, Peggy Ebben remembers her mom.
“I can only tell the story as it was told to me by my mother,” Ebben said with a smile. “But Leroy, one of the boys, was sweet on my mom.”
Ebben says this bracelet was purchased by Leroy Barber in Hawaii before Christmas, and he sent it out to her for a Christmas present.
“The sad part is that she received it after he was killed,” said Ebben.
She wears the bracelet anyway, saying it’s a way to keep her mom close.
And then there’s Debbie Bruette.
“My dad was in the Navy and, as he has told us over the years, he was on a ship that left Pearl Harbor a day before the attack,” she remembers.
For her too, this ceremony hits close to home.
Even if she may not know the Barber family herself.
“Everybody knows the name everybody knows the story,” said Bruette. “With today being the anniversary of 9/11 and to have a special ceremony like this now for these three brothers I just think it’s very patriotic and something very special.”
