Captain Andrew M. Barr was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on 7 November, 1928. He enlisted in 1946, and was accepted for Officer Candidate School. Upon graduation, he chose to become a Chemical Corps officer, as it would afford him the opportunity for additional schooling.

As a Platoon Leader and Forward Observer for Charlie Company, 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion, Captain Barr found himself in Korea on Thanksgiving Day, 1950, surrounded by Communist Chinese Forces. Determined to continue to defend his position, he exposed himself to heavy mortar, small arms and machine gun fire to encourage his men set up a .50 caliber M2 machine gun that delivered devastating fire on the enemy, and with three men held the position to allow the rest of the company, with all their wounded, to withdraw, an act for which he received the Silver Star award.

In February 1951, Captain Barr called fire for over 32 continuous hours to thwart a division-size Chinese attack, for which he received the Bronze Star award. On 24 April 1951, under fire in another Chinese mass attack, he supervised the evacuation of another platoon position. Then, alone, he went to the abandoned position of another platoon, and disabled their mortars to prevent them from being used by the enemy. Later, leading a group of Soldiers, he attempted to remove another platoon’s abandoned equipment, but was ambushed. Captain Barr killed two of the enemy, wounded another, rescued two wounded British Soldiers and withdrew his force without loss, receiving his second Silver Star award.