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→James Herman Barrett, Jr.,
'''Death'''
On Friday morning, July 29, 1994, Jim drove into the Ladies Center with Dr. John Bayard Britton by his side in the passenger seat and his wife, June, in the back jump seat. [[Paul Hill][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jennings_Hill], a regular protester, was already there. Jim drove in and parked. As he stepped out of the truck, Paul Hill opened fire with a shotgun. Jim and Dr. Britton were killed instantly and June was wounded and left for dead.
Jim said he saw the escorting as an extension of his military service. “My dad was a military man, and there’s a stereotype of the military man, that he’s all about war,” his daughter, Dandy Barrett Witty, said. “But dad taught me from the time I could understand that his primary mission was to keep the peace. That’s what his feeling was the day he died.” Jim himself was very direct about why he chose to serve as an escort. “I’ve spent my life doing my best for the security of my country and the people who live in it,” he had told a Pensacola area newspaper. “Why should I stop now?”
Graveside servesservices, with military honors, were held Monday, August 8th, 1994[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jbarrett.htm] in Arlington National Cemetery, with Rev. Roderick Brown, Unitarian Universalist minister from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, formerly of Pensacola, giving the eulogy.
Survivors included his wife, June G. Barrett, who died in 2011; his son, Bruce M. Barrett: daughter, Dandy Barrett Witty: step-daughter, Dr. Mary Holly Allison, Silver Spring, Maryland; brother, Reginald A. Barrett; Annapolis, Maryland; grandsons, Sean M. Witty and Jason M. Witty.
