Alvin Barton Barber – Colonel, United States Army

Alvin Barton Barber graduated fifth in the West Point Class of 1905.

Prior to the war, he had assisted in the reconstruction of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and had participated in the mapping of the Philippines.

Initially he went to France with the Railway Commission but he soon joined the General Staff at General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) until his assignment as G-1 of the Services of Supply in February 1918. In June he was made G-3 of I Corps and in August G-1 of the First Army.

In January 1919 he joined Herbert Hoover’s American Relief Administration and was sent in August to Warsaw as Adviser to the Polish Minister of Railways.  He resigned from the Army in 1920 but remained a Technical Adviser in Poland until 1922. In 1923 he was selected as manager of the Transportation and Communications Department of the United States Department of Commerce, a position he held for 25 years. He subsequently was a staff director on the National Resources Board and a consultant to the Office of Defense Mobolization. He retired in 1957 and died in 1961.

BARBER, ALVIN BARTON
Colonel United States Army

• DATE OF BIRTH: 05/19/1883
• DATE OF DEATH: 09/16/1961
• BURIED AT: SECTION 6  SITE 9174-2-R
  ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard