Sicily
Operation Husky brought Patton’s Seventh Army to the island. Monrovia served as Western Task Force command ship and survived two near-miss bombs.
Read the Sicily chapter →Barnes Gillespie Jr., MD · 1913–2003
Grandad
From a downstairs bedroom in Tazewell to a Navy attack transport at four amphibious landings—and home again to a medical practice and family life beside the James River.
Interpretive reconstruction of young Barnes and Mary in Baltimore, c. 1938–1940; not an historical photograph.
The places that made a life
From Tazewell to 200 James River Drive
Grandad’s memoir moves through small-town Virginia, colleges and hospitals, wartime oceans, and finally the shore of the James. These are the homes, schools, hospitals, and long postings that shaped him.
Judy—Randy’s mom—was conceived during Barnes and Mary’s year in Evanston, within walking distance of Randy’s present home in Wilmette. Randy later attended McDonogh School near Baltimore, creating another unexpected family touchpoint with the city where Nana and Grandad met.
1913–1929
Tazewell, Virginia
Born at the family house on March 12, 1913, Barnes grew up among the Gillespie institutions and landmarks he would revisit in old age: the family home, school, bank, church, and the surrounding mountain country.
1929–1930s
Bethany, West Virginia
He entered Bethany College in the fall of 1929, beginning the education that carried him away from Tazewell and toward medicine.
1930s
Charlottesville, Virginia
At the University of Virginia Medical School he trained as a physician before moving into hospital work.
Late 1930s
Baltimore, Maryland
As an intern at Union Memorial Hospital he met Mary Baldwin, then a student nurse working in the outpatient department. They married at a Baltimore Episcopal church on March 8, 1940.
1939–1940
Salisbury, Maryland
During his residency at Peninsula Memorial Hospital, the newly married couple lived in a small house near the hospital.
1940–1941
Evanston, Illinois
Barnes completed a pathology residency at Evanston Hospital and held a fellowship at Northwestern Medical School. He and Mary lived in a one-room apartment with a Murphy bed just off campus. It was here that Mary became pregnant with Judy.
1941–1942
Newport News, Virginia
They bought 238 James River Drive, welcomed Judy in 1942, and began the Virginia life to which Barnes would return after the war.
1942–1943
Portsmouth, Little Creek, and Florida
Before going overseas, Barnes joined Monrovia at Portsmouth and trained with the amphibious force around Little Creek and Camp Bradford. Exercises continued in Florida, preparing ship and landing parties for tropical beaches.
1943–1944
USS Monrovia and the Mediterranean–Pacific route
The ship became his moving home: Algiers and Sicily, then through the Panama Canal and San Francisco to Wellington, Hawaii, Tarawa, Kwajalein, San Diego, and Saipan. He served as ship’s surgeon while the attack transport landed troops and carried casualties.
1944–1946
Bethesda and Rockville, Maryland
Assigned to the Naval Medical Center, Barnes worked on a surgical ward for WAVES. He and Mary lived in Rockville, where twins Anne and Margie were born on January 2, 1945.
1946–2000
Newport News and the James River
He returned to medical practice and family life. In August 1949, Barnes and Mary bought “200,” the James River home that became the family’s emotional center. Mary died in 1995; Barnes remained until the house was sold in October 2000.
2000–2003
The Chesapeake, Newport News
His final home was the retirement community in Newport News. By then, his memoir had given the family a record of the people and places he wanted remembered.
Ship’s surgeon · USS Monrovia
Four landings, seen from the transport
Grandad did not fight ashore. His battle station was medical: aboard an attack transport that delivered assault troops and, according to the official ship history, repeatedly carried casualties away. Each page separates what his memoir records from what the wider battle history tells us—and labels medical conditions as informed reconstruction where the evidence is not personal testimony.
Tarawa
Reefs, tides, and concentrated fire turned a short assault into a brutal fight. The ship returned from the atoll carrying casualties.
Read the Tarawa chapter →Kwajalein
The Navy applied lessons from Tarawa in a larger, more coordinated assault across the world’s largest lagoon.
Read the Kwajalein chapter →Saipan
Monrovia landed 2nd Marine Division personnel through reefs, mortar fire, and aerial resistance, then carried wounded toward Hawaii.
Read the Saipan chapter →A chronology note: Grandad remembered reporting aboard on Christmas Eve 1941. The Navy’s official ship history says Monrovia was laid down in March 1942 and commissioned on December 1, 1942, making 1941 impossible. The website preserves his recollection while using the ship record for the operational chronology.
Back to Rivers RememberSources
What carries the story
- Barnes Gillespie Jr., A Remembered History of the Gillespie Family in Tazewell County, Virginia—the family and personal narrative.
- Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Monrovia (AP-64/APA-31)—official construction and operational chronology.