Twenty-five-year-old Sylvester Barnes Jr. was shot in the stomach in a hunting accident in January 1948. He died in Wilson’s Mercy Hospital.
In 1942, Sylvester Barnes Jr. registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 23 October 1923 in Wayne County, N.C.; his contact was Willie Best, Route 3, Box 217, Wilson; and he worked for Sylvester Barnes Sr., Route 3, Box 216, Wilson.
More than 17 years after his death, Sylvester Barnes’ mother Mary Barnes applied for a military headstone for him. Per the application, he had served in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1943 to 1945 and ranked as a Seaman 1st Class. The stone was to be delivered to Darden Memorial Funeral Home.
