DOB/DOD: April 8, 1923 (Hartford, CT) – July 8, 1945 (Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France); 22 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: 349 Bellevue Street, Hartford
ENLISTMENT: February 29, 1944, in New Haven
SERVICE NUMBER: A-130463
FAMILY: Born to Boce W. Barlow Sr. (1894-1938) and Etheline M. “Ethel” Maddox Barlow (1897-1981). Two sisters, Ethel Mae Barlow Lovett Chafin (1917-2001) and Katherine Barlow Clark [WWII veteran] (1920-2007). One brother, Boce W. Jr. (1915-2005).
OTHER: Brother Boce W. Barlow Jr. was Connecticut’s first black judge and State Senator. He graduated from Hartford High School in 1933. He was a cum laude graduate of Harvard, class of 1939. He was also a graduate of Harvard Law School in 1949. He served in a segregated Army from 1943 to 1946 in the Southeast Pacific. He attained the rank of Sergeant. The city of Hartford named a street, Boce Barlow Way, for him in the North End. Mary’s cousin, Private Daniel Carter of Hartford, was also killed in France two days after Mary Barlow, on July 10, 1945.
CIRCUMSTANCES: On July 8th, Mary and two other members of her unit – Sgt Dolores M. Browne and PFC Mary H. Bankston – were involved in a fatal jeep accident. Both Barlow and Bankston were killed instantly, while Dolores Browne succumbed to her injuries on July 13th. They are three of only four women buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, the other being Elizabeth Richardson, an American Red Cross volunteer.
Weaver High School (Hartford, CT) Class of 1941
From The Hartford Courant July 22, 1945
DIES IN FRANCE
Mrs. Ethel Barlow of 349 Bellevue Street has been notified by the War Department of the death of her daughter, Private First Class Mary J. Barlow, Women’s Army Corps, with the United States Postal Service in France. Private First Class Barlow, 22, died July 8, according to the dispatch. No further details were given. Overseas since January of this year, she enlisted two years ago. After completing her basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, she was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, for overseas training. Private First Class Barlow served in England and then in Rouen, France, where she was attached to Company C of the 6888th CPO at the time of her death. A graduate of Weaver High School in the class of 1941, Private First Class Barlow attended the Arsenal and North East schools here. She was employed by Underwood-Elliott-Fisher Corporation before her enlistment. She leaves her mother, a brother, Corporal Boce W. Barlow Jr., in New Guinea, and two sisters. Mrs. Katherine B. Clark of New York City and Miss Ethel May Barlow of Hartford.
Private Barlow is buried in Normandy American Cemetery, Rte du Cimetiere Americain, 14710 Colleville-sur-Mer, France; Plot A, Row 19, Grave 30
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