Alex Barris

Alex Barris, a New Yorker by birth (Sept. 16, 1922), received his draft notice on his 20th birthday in 1942. He completed his draft papers, mailed them, and waited. After several months, he visited U.S. Army draft office; they’d lost his papers. They desperately needed medics, so with absolutely no medical experience whatsoever, he was sent to basic training at Camp Phillips, Kansas, where he learned anatomy and first aid. His 319th Medical Battalion was assigned to 94th Infantry Division in Gen. George Patton’s Third U.S. Army – all shipped overseas spring 1944. Landed in France, Sept. 1944, where his unit was assigned to hem in Germany Armies guarding U-boat pens on French coast. When German Army launched Ardennes offensive (December 1944), 94th was quickly transferred east to stem the offensive. The Battle of the Bulge became bloodiest engagement of the war for the U.S. Army (90,000 casualties). February 1945, Tech. Sgt. Alex Barris saved lives of four medical corpsmen in his unit, for which he was awarded U.S. Bronze Star. T/Sgt. Barris finished war as part of occupation army in Czechoslovakia until December 1945, when he was repatriated to the U.S. and demobilized in New York City. After a successful career (in Canada and the U.S.) as reporter/journalist/broadcaster/author, during which he received the Order of Canada, Alex Barris died in 2004.