Good Morning,
My name is Bernard Sarisohn. I am a retired attorney at Law and reside at 36 Colony Drive, Holbrook, New York. Holbrook is located on the eastern end of Long Island.

I was a rifleman in Fox Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, stationed in Korea during the spring and summer of 1953.

Sometime in May 1953 I became Supply Clerk of Fox Company, and later became Supply Sergeant. As part of my duties as Supply Clerk I was in regular contact with the Company Commander, Lieutenant, later to become Captain, Cardenas.

I was not a witness to Sgt. Barfield's heroic actions. I can, however say to you that the account of his heroics was told to me hours after the Battle of Boomerang by Lieutenant Cardenas and by the survivors of the battle.

Our company suffered very heavy casualties. A majority of the 2nd battalion was killed or wounded. Most survivors were evacuated. Lieutenant Hotelling was evacuated. I arrived on the scene a few hours after the battle in order to recover armored vests for replacements. The few remaining survivors of the battle were all talking about the heroics of Sergeant Barfield and how he almost single handedly held the enemy at bay with a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and carried more than one injured man to safety.

I was asked by Lieutenant Cardenas on or about June 15, 1953 to write a draft of his request for a Medal of Honor for Sergeant Barfield. The Lieutenant furnished me with all of the information and I wrote and typed the recommendation and personally handed it to him. He read the papers, voiced his approval and commented, “I guess we have another Audie Murphy.”

Under normal circumstances a company clerk or an officer would write the request for medals. Our company had so many casualties that night that the Company Clerk was busy with casualty reports. Lieutenant Cardenas said, “You have a typewriter and you went to college, so you write it.”

Reflecting on my studies of past recipients, and my recollections of the battle scene and conversations with survivors immediately following the Battle of Boomerang, I firmly believe that Mr. Barfield has waited too long for the recognition that he earned and surely deserves from our country. The Congressional Medal of Honor should be awarded to him.

This statement was notarized on
10-23-2000 By Gail M. Ringrose
State of New York

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