NC WWI Service Card
Paul Mazyck Barnwell was 20 years old and living in Southport, NC, when he enlisted in the US Navy at the Recruiting Station in Charleston, SC, on April 30, 1918. He served as a Machinist Mate 2nd Class, then was promoted to 1st Class until his discharge on January 2, 1920.
He came to the Southport/Wilmington area with his parents from the city where he was born, Sumter, SC. According to accounts in local newspapers, his father, Reverend William Habersham Barnwell, traveled to churches throughout the South. Both parents and two of his sisters passed away in Wilmington and were laid to rest in Oakdale Cemetery.
One brother, St. Julien Mazyck Barnwell, also served in the US Navy in WWI, serving on many ships from May 1, 1917 – April 25, 1919. He is a veteran from the state of South Carolina.
This photo is from Paul’s Application for Seaman’s Certificate of American Citizenship, February 1921. [Source: Ancestry]
His address at that time was Wilmington, NC.
The Wilmington Morning Star printed this in the Society News on March 4, 1921, on page 6.
Has Interesting Position
His many friends in Wilmington and Southport will be interested to learn that Paul M. Barnwell, who has been living in New York since October, has left for the Pacific coast on the steamship [unreadable] R. Luckenback, on which he has the responsible position as mechanic in charge of an all American crew. The cruise, on which Mr. Barnwell recently started will take three or four months and his headquarters will be the Luckenback Steamship company, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Paul Mazyck died in Florida on December 11, 1991. His obituary is shown below. The location of his gravesite is unknown.
Source: The Tampa Tribune, North Pinellas, 13 Dec 1991, p.2
Paul M. Barnwell, 94, of St. Petersburg died Wednesday in St. Petersburg. A native of Sumter, S.C., he moved to the area in 1984 from Sea Cliff, N.Y. He retired in 1971 from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Mineola, N.Y. He was a veteran of World War I, serving in the U.S. Navy, and a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sea Cliff. He is survived by a son, Paul Jr, of East Brentwood, N.Y.; a daughter, Barbara Berry of St. Petersburg; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Mathews-Palms Memorial Funeral Directors, St. Petersburg.
To view this or an earlier profile or snapshot at any time, click on the veteran’s name on the WWI Brunswick County Veteran list, which is also accessible by the blue button on the top right of the webpage.
If you would like to help us honor Paul Mazyck Barwell or another Brunswick County WWI veteran, please use the following links:
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Announcement: Honor a Brunswick County World War I Veteran
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