Retired Marine 1st Sgt. James Barnett turned home into a museum

'Most Marine wives will not tolerate their husband doing something like this'
Roseburg News-Review
By CARISA CEGAVSKE
Published: Mar 15, 2014

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) — Retired 1st Sgt. James Barnett has turned his Roseburg home into a museum of Marine Corps artifacts. He has a collection of clear boxes filled with soil collected from every Marine base in the world and all the major World War II battles.

Marine Museum In this Feb. 27, 2014 photo, Jim Barnett stands in his Roseburg, Ore. home surrounded by items he has collected over the years traveling as a first sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. Barnett, 80, entered the Marine Corps when he was 17 years old, shortly after the Korean War broke out.
(AP Photo/The News-Review, Michael Sullivan)

Barnett has also collected more than 900 challenge coins, traditional medallions bearing the insignia of military organizations; Marine recruiting posters; drinking glasses; framed quotations about the Marines; Marine bulldogs and just about any other type of memorabilia imaginable.

Barnett, 80, entered the Marine Corps when he was 17 years old, shortly after the Korean War broke out.

"Four of us decided we were going to single-handedly win the Korean War, so we joined up together and went to boot camp in San Diego," he said.

He was too young for combat and was assigned to guard duty at a Naval brig in San Diego.

Barnett served 20 years in the Marines and is a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars. He also served as a drill instructor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and as a Marine recruiter. After retiring, he helped his wife with her custom drapery business and they retired to Roseburg 26 years ago.

During the Vietnam War, he met Maj. Gen. Marion Carl, ace pilot for the Marines. Carl was highly decorated and posthumously initiated into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.

After Carl was murdered in his Glide home in 1998, Barnett spearheaded a campaign to create a memorial to Carl at the Roseburg Regional Airport. The campaign drew $35,000 in donations and attention from across the country. The memorial includes a bronze likeness of the general. Barnett assured that the cement foundation contained soil from each of the battlegrounds over which Carl fought.
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