On the eve of what would have been his 75th birthday, abortion clinic escort James H. Barrett was buried with military honors Monday.
Just before he was shot to death on July 29 in front of an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, Barrett had been looking forward with excitement to "the party to end all parties," said the Rev. Paul Johnson, a Unitarian minister and friend.
"Our lives have been touched by the life of Jim Barrett," said Johnson, addressing Barrett's wife, sons and daughter at Arlington National Cemetery. The 100 or so mourners included others who escort abortion patients through protesters at clinics.
Barrett was killed as he was escorting Dr. John Britton into the clinic. Britton was also killed in the attack. Police have charged an inveterate protester, Paul Hill, with two counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Barrett's widow, June Barrett, who was shot in the arm, received the American flag folded by Barrett's military pallbearers after a bugler blew taps. Barrett's cremated remains were buried later.
Barrett's daughter, Dandy Barrett Witty, and two sons were at the service. A grandson, Sean Witty, played "Amazing Grace" on his guitar.
Barrett grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, obtained a pilot's license as a teen-ager and joined the Army Air Corps. He was commissioned in 1941 before the outbreak of World War II and began service immediately as a navigator, earning the Bronze Star, among other decorations.
He served in the Air Force through the Korean and Vietnam wars and was military attache to the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969.
He obtained a teaching certificate from Southwest Texas State University and taught middle school math and biology for 11 years.
His first wife, Dorothy, died. Several years later he met June, a retired U.S. Public Health Service nurse, and they married in 1990. They worked together as escorts.