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Descendants of Mahoning Valley doughboy find World War I relic Unlocking history
WEST MIDDLESEX, PA.
An old metal lockbox, passed down through generations of Barris men to Jerald A. Barris of West Middlesex, Pa., has yielded a silver cigarette case carried by Army doughboy Willis William “Bill” Barris in France during World War I.
William Barris, Jerald’s great-grandfather’s brother, was born in 1897 in the village of Poland. He enlisted in the Army on June 29, 1916, at 22, and left for France June 27, 1918. He survived the war and returned to the United States on April 2, 1919, only to be killed at age 32 in a car crash.
The WWI soldier’s daughter, Dolores Barris Moon, lived in Canfield from 1928 to the mid-1940s. She attended Salem High School and in her junior year, she moved to Arizona and lost contact with the Barris family in Ohio.
Just a few miles away in the West Middlesex area lived another branch of the Barris Family, including Doughboy Barris’ brother, Arnold L. Barris Sr., who started Barris Sunoco and Service, which became the Barris Co. Arnold Jr. and Alice Barris started Arnold L. Barris Trucking Co. in 1939, which is the business now operated by his daughter, Virginia L. Barris, office manager, and nephew Jerald W. Barris Jr., general manager.
The business office at 3500 Sharon Road is the original home of Arnold Jr. and Alice Barris.
The lockbox, perhaps originally used for small tools or fishing tackle, was in the possession of Jerald’s great-grandfather, great-uncle and grandfather, Jerald W. Barris Sr., until his death in September 2010 when it came down to Jerald, a special- education teacher in the West Middlesex Area School District.
The box contained a number of items, including Jerald’s great-grandfather’s Ka-Bar knife, which particularly excited Jerald. He said finding it gives him four generations of Barris Ka-Bar knives: His, and those of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father.
The Ka-Bar knife is used by the military as a fighting knife and by outdoorsmen.
He initially thought the cigarette case might be a pill box and paid little attention to it. Upon further investigation, however, his great-aunt confirmed that the cigarette case, which still contains a few nonfilter Camels though not likely WWI vintage, had belonged to his great-grandfather.
The cigarette case is the second personal item of doughboy Barris found recently by Pennsylvania Barris family members.
The search for artifacts began when it was learned that Reagan E. Moon of Louisiana, the grandson of doughboy Barris, was coming to Ohio to play “taps” at his grandfather’s grave in Poland Riverside Cemetery.
Moon had seen a picture at his mother’s home of his grandfather holding a bugle in France. He was the bugler for his unit. But the picture didn’t make an impact on Moon until the retired career Air Force veteran became a member of Bugles Across America, a volunteer organization dedicated to ensuring that a live person plays taps at every military funeral.
“My grandmother remarried several years after her first husband, doughboy Barris died, and lost contact with my grandfather’s family,” Moon said.
Moon had made contact with family members in Canfield, Poland and West Middlesex several years ago when he was researching his family genealogy and asked if the bugle still existed.
The bugle was not found, but the Pennsylvania Barris family did find doughboy Barris’ helmet, which Virginia said she remembers playing with as a child. The helmet had been stored at the family camp on the Allegheny River, but after some robberies there, it was moved to the business headquarters for safe keeping.
Moon attended the Pennsylvania Barris family reunion Aug. 7, where he was presented the helmet. He also went to the reunion of his mother’s side of this family Aug. 14.
He played taps at Barris’ grave in Poland and also at Haywood Cemetery in West Middlesex in honor of family members buried there who had served in the military. “I filmed it, and I get chills when I watch it,” Virginia said.
“I’m not sure how I will get the cigarette case to Reagan, but I would like to do it in person, possibly at the 2012 family reunion,” Jerald said.