James B. Barber enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps (later it became a separate military branch) shortly after the Pearl Harbor Hawaii attack on December 7, 1941. At that time, he was the editor of the Raton Daily Range in Raton, NM.
He served in the European Theater as a spotter pilot. He flew a piper cub plane. He received a Silver Star for alerting the ground forces about German planes planning air strikes.
He was in the Battle of the Bulge. This was when the U.S. Military began the all out attack on the Nazi’s in Europe.
Jim Barber, however, did not have to go to the Pacific Theater, because of the Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the war with Japan ended.
After WWII, Jim Barber stayed in the military in the New Mexico National Guard.
In the New Mexico National Guard, he earned the rank of Brigadier General.
After the war ended, he returned as editor of the Raton Daily Range, later he edited the Carlsbad Current Argus in Carlsbad, NM. After a stint working for the John F. Simms for governor campaign. He purchased the Grants Beacon and the Uranium City News. Grants two weekly newspapers and combined them into the Grants Daily Beacon.
Here in Grants, he was the editor and publisher of the Grants Daily Beacon until his death in 1971.
Jim Barber is buried at the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, NM.
He and his wife Nancy and daughter Cynthia made their home in Grants.