David D. Barrett
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David Dean Barrett (August 6, 1892 – February 3, 1977) was an American
soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...
, a diplomat, and an old Army China hand. Barrett served more than 35 years in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
, almost entirely in China. Barrett was part of the American military experience in China, and played a critical role in the first official contact between the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
and the
United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
. He commanded the 1944 U.S. Army Observation Group, also known as the
Dixie Mission The United States Army Observation Group (), commonly known as the Dixie Mission (), was the first US effort to gather intelligence and establish relations with the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army, then headquartered in ...
, to
Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...
, China. However, his involvement in the Dixie Mission cost him promotion to
general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
, when Presidential Envoy Patrick Hurley falsely accused Barrett of undermining his mission to unite the Communists and Nationalists.


Early life

David Dean Barrett was born in
Central City, Colorado Central City is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Gilpin County, Colorado, Gilpin and Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek counties, Colorado, United States. Central City is the c ...
. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1909 and served for three years. He then entered the
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...
, graduating when he was 23. He taught
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
English for the next two years, but when the United States entered the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he reenlisted, earning a commission as a second lieutenant. However, he spent the war serving in the United States. He chose to make the military a career and volunteered to take part in the American expedition to
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
to fight the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
s in 1920. Instead, his troopship was sent to the
Insular Government of the Philippine Islands The Philippine Insular GovernmentThis form of the name appeared in the titles of US Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See s:Costas v. Government of the Philippine Islands/Opinion of the Court, Costas v. Government of the Phili ...
, where he spent the next four years. Barrett learned of an army program to train officers in foreign languages and signed up in hopes of traveling to
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and learning its language. Disappointed once again, he was instead ordered to
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, China.


Pre-war life in China

Barrett arrived in Beijing in 1924 and assumed the post of Assistant Military Attaché for Language Study. He mastered the
Beijing dialect The Beijing dialect ( zh, s=北京话, t=北京話, p=Běijīnghuà), also known as Pekingese and Beijingese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, the ...
through five hours of practice with Mandarin teachers each day, followed by two hours of personal study. Barrett recalled this time as a joy and said the dialect spoken in the former imperial capital was "the most beautiful Chinese in the world." Part of Barrett's education involved the study of the
Chinese Classics The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian traditi ...
, such as the Confucian Analects, and
I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
. Later in life, he impressed the Chinese by his ability to quote passages from the Classics. Barrett also made trips to the countryside to practice conversation with rural Chinese. In 1927, he was transferred to the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment headquarters in
Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
. The executive officer of the regiment at the time was Lieutenant Colonel
George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. ...
, the future Secretary of State. Battalion commander of one of the two battalions stationed in Tianjin was then Major
Joseph Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March 1883 – 12 October 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India theater during World War II. Stilwell was appointed as Chief of Staff for Chiang Kai-shek, the Chine ...
. Barrett encountered the two again a year later at the
Infantry School A School of Infantry provides training in weapons and infantry tactics to infantrymen of a nation's military forces. Schools of infantry include: Australia *Australian Army – School of Infantry, Lone Pine Barracks at Singleton, NSW. Franc ...
at
Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. The three years he spent at the school and in the United States was an anomaly in a career that was spent almost entirely in China. By 1931, he was permanently assigned at the Fifteenth Infantry in Tianjin as a regimental intelligence staff officer. From that position, he watched the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
's
encirclement campaigns The encirclement campaigns of the Chinese Civil War were Republic of China (ROC) offensives against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) revolutionary base areas in China from the late-1920s to 1934 during the Chinese Civil War. The climax were the fiv ...
against the
Chinese Communists The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil W ...
, who, in Barrett's opinion, were irresponsibly and wrongly designated as bandits by the KMT. Barrett's tour of duty in Tianjin ended in 1934. Two years later, he was assigned to be an Assistant Military Attaché to the American Legation in Beiping (the then-name of Beijing). His executive officer in Beiping and acting Military Attaché, was
Joseph Stilwell Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March 1883 – 12 October 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India theater during World War II. Stilwell was appointed as Chief of Staff for Chiang Kai-shek, the Chine ...
, then a full colonel. Stationed in Tianjin and then Beiping, Barrett had a front-row seat to watch the growing Japanese encroachment on China. The most notable event that Barrett personally witnessed was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, which began the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. On the day after the start of the conflict, July 8, Barrett was among the first foreign observers on the scene. Later the same day, Barrett returned with Stilwell, where both men were fired upon by the
Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
. It was, Barrett noted, the first and last time he ever heard a shot pass him in anger. Due to his position in the American Legation in Beiping, Barrett moved with the
Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...
as it fled the approach of the Japanese, first to
Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...
, where Barrett often drove out to the front line to observe the fighting between the Chinese and Japanese forces. By 1938, Hankou fell and the Nationalists again retreated, this time to Chongqing. It was in Chongqing that Barrett remained until 1943.


Second World War career

Barrett remained in the capacity of Assistant
Military Attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...
until May 1942, when he assumed the post of chief attaché inherited from General John Magruder. However, any sense of accomplishment for the post was stymied by the build-up of a major American military presence in China. It was because the position of attaché was attached to the embassy, and so Barrett was removed from much of the military planning and operations executed by the regular American military, whose presence was constantly growing in the capital. Another problem was the habit of Nationalist officials to bypass Barrett and communicate directly with the American military personnel. Barrett remained in the position through the summer of 1943. Under the belief that he would never gain promotion to general officer, he requested a transfer out of the embassy detail. His wishes were granted and he found himself assigned to assist in the American creation of a Chinese field army at
Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...
in the
Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
Province in southern China. Due to supply failures and political entanglements, the army never advanced beyond the establishment of a headquarters. It was from that post that Barrett was plucked out and sent to command the observer group to Yan'an.


Command of the Dixie Mission

On March 24, Barrett received an order to proceed to Chongqing for temporary duty, unaware of the plans for the observer group to
Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...
. Not until he met John Service four days after his arrival in Chongqing, did he learn he was to assume command of the mission. At the time, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had not yet provided his consent to the mission and Barrett waited a month in Chongqing before being ordered back to Guilin. He remained there until the start of July, when the success of
Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Henry Wallace's mission to Chongqing signaled a green light for the mission. Col. Barrett, Maj. Ray Cromley, Maj. Melvin Casbert, Capt. John Colling, Capt. Charles Stelle, Capt. Paul Domke, 1st Lt. Henry Wittlesey, Staff Sgt Anton Remeneh, US Embassy 2nd Secretary John S. Service and political attaché Raymond Ludden arrived in Yan'an on July 22, 1944. While Service handled political discussions, Barrett was in charge of working out a cooperative military strategy. Barrett remained in command of the Dixie Mission until November 1944, when he was removed to help Ambassador Patrick Hurley in negotiations to unify the Nationalists and Communists, as well as help plan potential American-Communist cooperative plans at the theater headquarters of General Albert C. Wedemeyer. While serving as a courier and representative for Wedemeyer's chief of staff, General
Robert B. McClure Major General Robert Battey McClure (September 15, 1896 – September 15, 1973) was a senior United States Army officer who served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Born in 1896, McClure joined the United States Army in 1917. He ...
, Barrett was sent on two missions to Yan'an to speak with Communist leadership. The last discussion involved the possibility of a joint Communist-American military mission involving several thousands of American troops. As this plan, developed by McClure, hurt Hurley's attempts to bring the Communists into a joint-government plan, Hurley accused Barrett of sabotaging his negotiations. Hurley stopped a promotion in motion to make Barrett a brigadier general and had him removed to a small corner of the China theater for the rest of the war.


Post-war life

Barrett left
Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
in 1950 after the Communist Party seized control in the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
. One year later, he was falsely implicated as the leader of a
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
to have Antonio Riva and Ruichi Yamaguchi assassinate
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
with a mortar strike on
Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...
during National Day celebrations. Although Riva and Yamaguchi were executed and several other expatriates were imprisoned, in 1971 Premier
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
explained that claiming his involvement had been a mistake, apologized to Barrett, and invited him to visit the country again. From 1950 to 1953, he served as the first Army attaché in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
when the U.S. Embassy to the R.O.C. re-opened in the Taiwanese capital of
Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...
, working along with Rear Admiral
Harry B. Jarrett Harry Bean Jarrett (12 October 1898 – 9 April 1974) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral. A veteran of several campaigns in Pacific during World War II, he distin ...
(Defense attaché) and Colonel LeRoy Heston (
Air attaché An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...
). This was his last post before retiring from the U.S. Army. As a civilian, Barrett served as a professor at the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
. He was instrumental in establishing a modern Chinese language course there and lectured in the modern history of China and occasionally in Shakespearean studies.


See also

In 2013, the story of the Dixie Mission served as the historical basis for a new World War II novel called ''Two Sons of China'', by
Andrew Lam Andrew Lam (born 1964) is a Vietnamese American author and journalist who has written about the Overseas Vietnamese experience. Biography Andrew Lam was born Lâm Quang Dũng in 1964 in South Vietnam. He was the son of General Lâm Quang Thi of ...
. Colonel Barrett is portrayed as a prominent historical figure in the book. It was released by Bondfire Books in December 2013.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, David D. 1892 births 1977 deaths People from Central City, Colorado University of Colorado alumni University of Colorado Boulder faculty United States Army colonels Dixie Mission participants Recipients of the Legion of Merit American expatriates in China United States military attachés Military personnel from Colorado