1 st Sergeant Otis Barker
My introduction to First Sergeant Barker was when I reported to the company office in March of
1968 as the new company clerk. The first thing I noticed was the back of this field desk with
letters stenciled on it stating, “Keep your FUCKING hands and ass off my FUCKING desk.
1stSgt”. The letters were 3” tall with the exception of the two “Fuckings” , which were 6” tall. I
thought to myself, ‘I’m not in Kansas anymore’.
He meant it. Several months later, I was working in the office and a new Lieutenant reported for
duty. This ‘butter bar’ actually had the audacity to put his hands on Top’s desk and lean over,
apparently to tell him something. Top grabbed his ruler and rapped the Lt’s knuckles like Mother
Superior in the Blues Brothers, stating “It says, ‘keep your fucking hands and ass off my fucking
desk’”. The Lt said, “yes, Sir”.
Some months later, it seems the mother of Sgt. Turk was working in Saigon in the press corps (I
believe) and wanted to see her son. She hitched a ride to Da Nang escorted by some Air Force
bird colonel and of course brought the perfunctory bottle for Top. Now picture this man, five foot
nothing tall, trying to cover up these two giant Fuckings from the mother of one of his troops,
while she’s handing him a bottle of scotch and everyone in the office trying hard not to lose it.
Top Barker was from Seth, West Virginia, a small unincorporated coal mining town. He was
born in 1926 and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943. He fought in the Guadalcanal campaign
in the Pacific. He was at the Chosin Reservoir. Vietnam was his third war. He was discharged
in 1974. He was short in stature but huge in heart and energy.
Top was perhaps 5’2” – 5’4” or so, but he was the largest small man I ever knew. He was larger
than life and always going ‘a mile a minute’. This translated into his PT (Physical Training)
routine. Alpha Company was going to be in shape – even if it killed them. Three times a week
at 1:00 in the afternoon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, everyone in the area had to fall
out for PT. We started at the Pull Up bar at the Company office and then headed down the
Landing Zone (LZ 401) where we got in formation and did calisthenics. We had some ten (10)
exercises that we did. Then we formed up and headed out down the road. We jogged, in
formation, down to Freedom Hill and back. It was about a mile and a half each way for a total of
about 3 miles. Oh, and we chanted road songs the entire 3 miles. ‘I don’t know but I’ve been
told, Alpha Recon’s might bold’. ‘Stand up, buckle up, shuffle to the door. Jump right out and
count to four’. As a side note, Top could do one arm pullups.
The kid got in some serious shape. Being company clerk, my fat ass was always in the area
and available for PT. I had a 27” waist and weighted all of 135 lbs.
One incident that will forever be burned in my mind occurred while time we were on a run.
Some other company was practicing repelling out of a helicopter. Apparently, they were using a
single rope instead of two. From what I recall, you used a double rope for practice. In addition,
they had it running straight off the tailgate. Oh, and they were wearing full packs. This poor guy
got up there with slack in the rope and jumped backwards off the tail. Of course, the rope
snapped and we watched him plunge to the paddies. They were flooded at this time, and he ​
splashed. We all assumed he was dead but seems he only sprained his back. That said, it was
horrifying to watch.
As for repelling – what a rush. Everyone had to go through the training and we did several
times. You wore Swiss Seat with a D ring attached through which to run the rope. You then
wrapped it around your back and used your break hand to hold it, wrapping or releasing the
rope around your body to either brake or slide. Most everyone’s first few attempts were
something of a herky jerky constant breaking embarrassment. However, the more often you
did it, the more you relaxed and built up your speed. The real pros could do what I’ll call the
inertialess stop, to want for a better term. They would come at full speed, not breaking until just
before they hit the ground. Then they broke hard and the rope stretched sufficiently for them to
touch the ground and release. Just sticking it. Wow. This was so incredibly neat to watch
someone pull off.
Top Barker, liked, no, loved to stencil things. I think there was something stenciled, some
instruction, saying or other information on most every flat surface in the company area. His
penchant for painting stuff even spilled over to Sgt Jones who went on a spree of stenciling the
“midnight stalker – or skulker” on everything. This was a cartoon character of the spy-like guy in
the trench coat with the Sherlock Holmes hat sneaking along with three little dots behind as a
trail. Jones made up a cardboard stencil that was a couple of inches square – and proceeded to
go nuts. He spray painted that sucker EVERYWHERE. No matter where you looked – there was
the skulker. You opened your footlocker and he was on your skivvies. You went to the head and
looked up - there he was on the rafters.
Much more than a spray paint maniac, Top was a scrounge. It was all for the cause and
something he’d learned in three wars – grab everything, have a backup, do anything you have
to do to get the right gear for the troops – ‘beg, borrow, lie, cheat or steal’ – but get the
equipment. Taking care of the troops was his top priority – aways.
First off and just to set the mood, the 1 st Sgt hootch had a 1 ton air conditioner that came from
somewhere. He had scrounged it before I arrived. Early on after I got there, he persuaded the
engineers to run pipe up the mountain from Camp Reasoner to a spring so that we had 24/7
running water for our shower. Ah, but what about dry season? No problem, he scrounged a
couple of 600 gal. wing tanks from the air wing and had the engineers erect a scaffolding
system and install hot water heaters so we had 24/7/365 hot water for our showers. I think it all
cost him a couple of cases of long range rations (long rats) and some Korean camouflage
utilities he had swapped for earlier. I recall one swap a single case for a 6x6 stake truck of
lumber.
The Supply Hootch is where he had his beer cooler. Most people don't realize it, but each of us
had a beer 'ration'. I don’t remember just how much it was because it didn’t really matter. At
Camp Reasoner, we had the E-club where we could go and drink beer. Well, because of this
situation, Top purloined the company beer ration and stashed it in the Supply Hootch in his beer
cooler. This was a refrigerator with all the shelves removed and turned down as low as it would
go. That was the source of the beer for Beer Calls after every patrol or PT or any other special
occasion. These were the only times this cooler was opened. This may have been the coldest
beer on the planet. I remember not really even liking beer before then. Sure, I drank it in high
school - we all did. But I never really enjoyed it until 'nam and having one of Top's Beer Calls.
Had ice floating in it. Best tasting beer there ever was.​

Now let’s get serious and talk about weapons. Top Barker liked guns and by God, Alpha
Company wasn’t going to wait in line for guns in a war! Again, this was all about taking care of
the troops. Accordingly, he put together his own company arsenal that was in some ways
superior to that of our battalion. All ‘off the books’, mind you. He had a couple of .50 caliber
machine guns, M-16s, M-14s, .45 caliber pistols. The story was that the .50 calibers had been
pieced together from various and sundry wrecked helicopters that gone down in the water. Who
knows? We even had a 60 mm mortar 3rd Platoon swiped from one of the bunkers at the air
base while the sentry was asleep. Oh, and late one afternoon, a jeep pulled in with a brand
spanking new M-60 – still in its original packing and coated in cosmoline – wanting to trade for a
.45 cal. pistol that their gunny needed so he could rotate. It worked for us. The way it worked
with the military, if you received a M-16 when you arrived in country, you turned one in when you
left. Serial numbers? Who cares. Same for their Gunny and his .45. Anyway, Top had taught
us well and finding a .45 was easy. Great swap.
Where Top got in trouble was just before he rotated back to Oki. Some team from another
Company needed a .50 cal. for an OP (Observation Post) and the battalion armory was out.
One was checked out and one was being repaired. They were referred to Top Barker to borrow
one of his. Apparently, the word got back to the Colonel and he did not appreciate it and Top lost
his 50s.
Taking care of the troops also meant Top would never, ever give anything back. We received
quotas ever month for R&Rs to various ports (i.e. 2 Hong Kong, 2 Hawaii, 4 Bangkok, etc.).
Can’t use them. Nonsense, find someone to go. We once received about 100 pair of tiger
stripped PT shorts.

Curtis Gruetzmacher & Top Barker

Quotas to schools? Don’t even think of not using them. Summer of 1969, we received two slots
for 1 st Marine Division Sniper School. Starts Monday, send your best shots. Top told me to
check all the service records of everyone in the area and available and see who qualified as
Rifle Expert. I was the only one. Find out who shot Sharpshooter. Frank Montez was the only
one. Monday, Frank and I got a jeep and went to Sniper school. It was a week long, firing a
Remington 700 DBL, medium barrel, Redfield scope, match ammo, sandbagged with shower
shoe for the shoulder, TYVM! Had to qualify at 500, 600, and 1,000 meters at silhouette
targets. Should a bush marine have been sent in my stead? Of course, but Top sure wasn’t
giving anything and we were the best qualified and available. Hell, I might be the only sniper
qualified clerk typist in the bloody war.
And perhaps more than anything, Top really like turning in his troops for decorations and
awards. He loved it. I was the typist for many of them. When something happened in the bush
to one of our teams, after things quieted down, the Patrol Leader would meet with Top and the
CO. They’d make the decision about any awards and Top would inform me that so and so was
going to be recommended for whatever. I’d get statements from the Patrol Leader and other
witnesses as needed and type it up. I was very lucky as I got there late March 1968 and by that
time, Alpha Company had a long history of award recommendations on file to use as templates.
It was also significant personally to me as it was just after Texas Peter and Ralph Johnson’s
death. I had the honor of helping to type up his recommendation for the Medal of Honor. When
you’re a clerk typist, how does it get any better than that?
I think the maddest I ever saw him was when Terry (Charlie) Brown went AWOL while on
Special Leave. Pvt. Brown came to us as a radio man fresh out of training. Except that by the
time we got him, he had more bad time than good. Seems he had a sweetheart and they had
their ups and downs and whenever there was a ‘fence’ to jump, Brown was off to see his honey.
Well, in Vietnam there wasn’t a ‘fence’ to jump, so Brown just had to go to the bush and be a
Recon Marine. And he did it very well. He was a true kickass warrior. Went from Private to
Corporal is a matter of months. I believe the last was a Meritorious Combat Promotion, but I’m
not positive. He also earned himself a Silver Star. He was doing well for a change, and decided
to extend his tour and get a special leave – to go see his sweetheart. By extending his tour, he
was actually able to take his leave a couple of months before his normal Rotation Tour Date
(RTD) – so it might have all been a ploy – we’ll probably never know. What we do know is that
back in the states, there were fences. And even 30 days doesn’t last forever, so over the hill he
went. While he was gone, his Silver Star was actually delivered to the company and Top had it
in his desk. When we got word of Charlie Brown going AWOL – he threw a fit and tossed it into
the trash. I waited until he wasn’t looking and fished it out and put it with Brown’s personal
affects that were eventually home. Terry is gone now (RIP) but hopefully he cleared it with the
authorities. I am pretty sure that he would have received an Honorable Discharge as solders
who receive heroic decorations will almost always receive an Honorable discharge. Major heroic
decorations are the penultimate Hall Pass in the service.
Oh, and Alpha was Top’s company. And don’t forget it. I believe it was the summer of 1969, we
got called out for a Reactionary Force. We formed up in front of the company office. Another
team was in trouble and we were being sent out to help get them extracted. It was everyone in ​
the area, including my dumb ass. Top was the NCO in charge. We were in formation, and Top
told us, “You all just remember that this is MY reactionary force and I am in charge, not these
goddamn officers. They’re just along to sign papers. You listen to ME, or I’ll have your ass.”
Now please don’t misunderstand. Top was the penultimate professional Marine. He believed
and honored the chain of command and our officers and we had some of the best. However,
Top Barkers ‘prime directive’ was to Take Care of the Troops. NOTHING came before this. He
was taking a Reactionary Force out to save a team in the middle of a fire fight. Er, Top had
been fighting in the Pacific before most everyone standing there had been born. Who was
running this operation was not a matter of discussion nor debate.
On the way out, in what I believe was a CH-47, I was sitting next to Koontz and across from
Maxam who had the M-60. He was sitting next to Tom Southerland. As we were going in,
Maxam had the gun braced on his knee and we hit an air pocket. The gun hit the floor and
three (3) rounds went through the roof. Koontz didn’t bat an eye but lowered his M-14 (he had
the most of the stock sawed off and sling mounted) to point at Maxam, and said, “Maxam, you
son of a bitch, if we go down, you’re dead before we hit the ground”. We didn’t and I saw
Maxam last year. We got called off as the team was able to get extracted. Tom Southerland,
later recalled the Crew Chief coming down and holding his thumb and finger up to point out just
how close the rounds came to bring us down.
Top actually lived in Okinawa where he owned 49% of a house, bar, and car. His girlfriend
owned the other 51%. He had left the hills of West Virginia and had yet to look back. I believe he
had an ex somewhere in the states, but he retired initially to Okinawa. It was funny, but towards
the end of his tour, he decided to get circumcised. He scheduled it for the hospital in Okinawa
as outpatient surgery and informed the new Captain he’d be gone ‘on R&R” for four or five
weeks. The Captain blew up and told him his R&R would be up in seven days and he’d expect
Top back on time. Yeah, right. Top had himself admitted to the hospital by his buddy (the Top up
there) and stayed until he felt like coming back.
Rumors? Hell, I don’t know. I worked for him from March of ’68 until he rotated in 1969 – a year
or so, I guess. I heard that he’d been in WWII with Carlson’s Raiders. I know he had been in
the Guadalcanal campaign. I know he was at the Chosin Reservoir. I heard he’d been a Corps
boxing champ in one of the light weight categories. WTF knows. I know he was fucking hard
corps. Just the penultimate marine and as good a first sergeant as you’ll ever find. He was my
boss for well over a year. The most important lesson I learned from him that if you take care of
your people, they will take care of everything else. And come hell or high water, Top Barker
was going to take care of his men.

Together We Served

Last Known Activity
Retired Sgt. Maj. Otis Barker, 83, of Fayetteville, West Virginia died April 7, 2010 He was born Aug. 6, 1926, in Seth, West Virginia and was a son of the late Lloyd and Pearl Barker. He was also preceded in death by one brother, Kensey Barker; two sisters, Juanita Barker and Cybil Barker Cox; three sons, Michael, Richard and Timothy Barker; one daughter, Dena Barker Westfall; and granddaughter, Ivy Marie Barker. He was married to Karen Toombs Barker. He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after 30 years and as a correctional officer with South Central Regional Jail, Charleston. In the U.S. Marine Corps, he served in WWII, Korea, Lebanon and Vietnam. He received the Silver Star, Bronze Star and five Purple Hearts (Cross of Gallantry.) He is survived by his wife, Karen Toombs Barker; three sons, Joseph and Stephen Barker, both of Seth, and Sonny Barker of Elkview; two daughters, Lisa Barker Wise and Tina Barker of Pennsylvania; two stepsons, Eric Johnson of Fayetteville and Thomas Wilson of Rocklick; nine grandchildren, one great-grandchild and four stepgrandchildren. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Eagles, VFW, American Legion and the Marine Corps League. Funeral will be 1 p.m. Monday, April 12, at High Lawn Funeral Home, Oak Hill, with Chaplain Keith Davis officiating. Entombment will be in High Lawn Memorial Park Mausoleum, with full military rites conducted. 

Retired SgtMaj. Otis Barker
Final Extract April 7, 2010
Alpha Co. 1stSgt 1st Recon Bn. 67/69

Rest in Peace

SgtMaj Otis Vernon “Top” Barker

High Lawn Memorial Park

Oak Hill, West Virginia

High Lawn Memorial Park

Oak Hill, West Virginia

He came this way but once. Yet, he touched our lives in many ways while he were here. We shall remain eternally grateful for his friendship and for the influence he bestowed upon us.

Go in peace and remember you are not forgotten while I am still on patrol.

SgtMaj Otis Vernon “Top” Barker

My introduction to First Sergeant Barker was when I reported to the company office in March of 1968 as the new company clerk.