John Andrew Barnes III
John Andrew Barnes III, nicknamed Jackie, was born on April 16, 1945, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was adopted as a child and grew up in Belmont and Dedham. Described as an average, quiet, and patriotic student, he finished Dedham High School in 1964 and joined the U.S. Army.
Barnes trained at Fort Pickett and Fort Benning, and he served a year in the Dominican Civil War. In 1966, he went to Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and fought in Operation Attleboro. After his first tour, he volunteered to return to Vietnam in 1967.
On November 12, 1967, during the Battle of Dak To in Kon Tum Province, Barnes’ unit was attacked. He manned a machine gun that had lost its crew, destroying nine enemy soldiers. While retrieving more ammunition, he threw himself onto a grenade to save wounded comrades and was killed.
Barnes was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions, as well as the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart. He is buried at Brookdale Cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts, and his name is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Dedham and his family helped honor his memory with several memorials: in 1970 the town dedicated John A. Barnes III Memorial Park, a Navy building in Boston was renamed for him in 1997, and in 2025 the town established the John Barnes Scholarship for Dedham residents entering military service after high school.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:37 (CET).