Sergeant Barker was a medic with the Medical Detachment, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while tending his wounded comrades in North Korea on December 1, 1950 and died while a prisoner on February 18, 1951. His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. SGT Barker's remains were recovered and identified.