Camille Arthur Barnabe was born on November 21, 1921, in Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Napoleon and Delima (Pelletier) Barnabe of Woonsocket, Providence County, Rhode Island.

Camille enlisted at Providence on September 11, 1942. He’d had one year of high school and was employed as a machinist. He was single without dependents.

Sgt Barnabe served in the Headquarters Detachment of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and was probably fluent in French from his French Canadian parents. The OSS was the precursor to the CIA. He was dropped into southern France for sabotage and to coordinate resistance fighters. He died on August 11, 1944, five days before the start of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944.

Sgt Barnabe was mortally wounded on August 10, 1944, at Vanosc, France, by shrapnel from fragmentation anti-personnel bombs dropped from German JU-88s. Vanosc was a resistance stronghold in southeastern France 49 miles south-southwest of Lyon. Also wounded were five from the SOG (Special Operations Group) and 25 Maquis (guerilla resistance fighters). After initial care at the French infirmary at Vanosc, most were evacuated to the hospital at St. Agreve for further treatment. Sgt. Barnabe did not survive surgery for an abdominal wound.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov