To the extended Barnes family,

I recently heard of Mike's passing and wanted to pass along my condolences.

In 1976, Iron Mike was my platoon commander @ TBS. All of us in "G" company enjoyed our education and stay in Quantico because of Marines like Mike. We had a great time

I remember running into him in the latter 70's on a train in Germany.

Mike was a great person and Marine for many reasons. His friendships and legacy will be remembered by many for a long time.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences.

Mike Barnes was a true American hero. I knew Mike when he was my roommate at TBS. He went straight to Vietnam and I went to Vietnamese Language school. We did run into each other in Okinawa on my way in-country. This October was to be a TBS reunion...one of the Marines I was looking forward to seeing again was Mike. Semper Fi Mike. See you when I report in. Rosemary....you have no idea how much the report of Mike's passing had on me. It hurt. He was a special friend and I'll regret not getting to see him again this side of heaven. My most sincere condolences. Jack Atwater

Dear Rosemary, I am so sorry for your loss. I remember many conversations with Mike. He was always interested in what others thought. He will be missed and Girl Scouts are much better for all he did and for knowing him.

Rosemary - so sorry to hear of Mike's death. Our prayers are with your family.

Dear Barnes Family...I first knew Mike while in college...yrs. ago...as we were both in the same fraternity. I pledged under his leadership and always knew him to be "motivated to motivate" as well as more then "fair" for the effort one would put out. I truely feel that he'll be remembered by any who sat down at the card table of life with him...at any time in their lives...to better play the hands they were delt. I feel it a privilage to have shared some time at that table...

Dear Barnes Family, Gary and I want to express our sympathies to you all. Working and learning from Mike was one of the greatest highlights of my entire life. He had a unique way for finding hidden talents.... :) Mike could tell a story so you would never forget it. His greatest stories were about you, Rosemary. He was in such awe of you... My heart goes out to you. Mike was also blessed to be able to see his children grow up and know they will flourish and carry on in faith. Let the Lord wrap his arms around you today, tomorrow and always.

Leslie very sorry to hear about your brother. Our prayers are with you and your family. Please no that we are here if you need us.

so sorry for the loss of your brother, Leslie.Our sympathy goes out to you and your family.
we love you.

Mike
Semper Fidelis, as many know, is the Marine Corps motto.. "Always Faithful". The mission statement of Marine Officer Candidate School is also two latin words, Ductus Exemplo. " Lead by Example". These five words are the heart & soul of every Marine Officer's life...Lead by Example----- Always Faithful. Mike's life truly exemplified these 5 words; not only as a Marine Officer, but as a business owner, Rosemary's husband, Sean, Matt, Amanda & Joe's father, the grandfather of 8 & a friend. Mike was my friend for five decades. Not one harsh or angry word, not one argument in almost 50 years....friendly disagreements between two strong willed personalities, you bet....but Mike would always listen to your point of view, then convince you of the error in your thinking.........or, maybe even change his mind. You cannot have a better friend than a Marine & Mike was a Marine to the depths of his soul. It has been said that the only people that really understand a Marine, is another Marine or his enemy. This may or may not be the case, but in Mike's case, I would certainly add Rosemary and his kids to that list for sure!
Speaking of Rosemary; think I actually heard, during a Rotary banquet a few years back, that Mike & Rosemary never had an argument! At first that truly sounded preposterous; they were probably just exuberant & lively discussions...which probably ended with Mike saying "yes Rosemary"! (He always referred to his wife as "Rosemary", never a truncated form of her name, like Rosie). In the Marine Corps, many times wives would "take on" the rank of their husbands. Not in the Barnes' household, Rosemary ALWAYS outranked Mike, & he knew it....& it is certainly not appropriate to argue with a senior ranking officer!!
Mike joined the Marine Corps while attending UWSP & was instrumental in me joining within about a year later. During our respective 20 year careers our paths only crossed one time, resulting in one of those "stories" we both loved to tell. Major Barnes was deployed on an Exercise (Marine speak for war games) in a California desert (outside of 29 Palms, aka "29 Stumps"); at the same time my reserve squadron was on our annual two week active duty exercise. I had not seen Barney in a number of years at this point, but knew he was stationed in 29 Palms. After a few inquiries I located where his unit was deployed in the field, and after convincing my Operations Officer to let me do a local "recon" flight of the area; I landed the Huey in the middle of Mike's encampment...with the resulting sand storm from the rotor blades creating quite the havoc among his troops! Upon disembarking the Huey, & making inquiries as to "where is Major Barnes?" I was directed to a tracked vehicle, covered with desert camo, providing shade to a relined, cover (hat) over his eyes, sound asleep Major Barnes; who I approached & abruptly awoke by a delivered a swift kick to his boots & proclaiming, "Barney how in the devil are you!" BTW a Captain does not, or certainly should not, wake a senior officer in such a disruptive manner, let alone give him a big bear hug! His "troops" were not happy that a junior ranking fly-boy woke "their" Major in such a fashion! Without his quick intervention, the remainder of my two week duty may have been spent in a desert brig for assaulting a senior officer.
Over the years Mike always referred to us as the Marine "air-ground" team. I was a "wing-wiper", a term of endearment grunts give to aviators, as "grunt" is the term of endearment pilots use for infantrymen. I would always follow his air/ground statement with, you know all Marines are rifleman first & if it wasn't for you grunts, we wouldn't have a job! Air or ground, we were all part of the same USMC, which Mike referred to as Uncle Sam's Marvelous Creatures, or Misguided Children!
One of our missions as the Marine "Air-ground" team was to attend a family night for "poolies" & their families in Merrill. A "poolie" is usually a high school student or recent high school graduate, that has signed up, & is waiting to go to Marine Boot Camp. Mike was the guest speaker. As Mike was being introduced by the local recruiter, & not seeing any notes in his hand, I asked Mike what he was going to say. He response," I have no idea, but I'll figure something out"! Mike then stood up, did a slow survey of the entire audience (about 50 parents & poolies) & in his distinctive Marine command voice said "SO YOU WANT TO JOIN MY MARINE CORPS!! Pausing, he then did another slow survey of the entire audience. I truly believe a couple of the "poolies" wet themselves! He then smiled, and in his academic- grandfatherly manner went on to talk about what they were getting themselves into, what it means to be a Marine & how it would change their lives and their families lives..forever. An easy discussion for him, he lived it.

Mike has been part of a Canadian Fishing crew for 20+ years. His moniker was "Spyman". Everyone gets a name and they all end in "man". Mike was Spyman because of his company Sentinel Detective Agency. We are also all assigned duties; Mike usually was Breakfast Chef; not because of his culinary skills, but because he is always the first one up & about in the morning. BTW his cooking skills were quite good! His morning wardrobe, however, was another story..usually involving Marine Corps clothing, almost certainly USMC sweat pants that were definitely not worn in an appropriate manner! If you saw a chef in a restaurant so clad, you would most assuredly do an about-face & find another eating establishment! Mike took his morning chef duties VERY seriously...and it was the ONLY time during fishing camp he didn't talk--until everyone was served & he sat down himself!! The only words you heard prior to eating, usually heard from under your covers, was "come and get it!"
We usually fished two guys per boat & generally would switch out "first-mates" (non-boat owners) during the week, so we good fish with more than one friend, and maybe learn a new technique on catching those illusive walleye. Initially Mike needed all the help he could get in this department, but over the years he learned "real good" & could catch as many fish as anyone in camp. The thing about fishing with a good friend is, that some days, you could fish the entire day & not utter a dozen words, maybe "toss me a minnow" or "fish on, get the net". Well when Mike was assigned to "At-Ease" (my boat's name), I generally didn't say too much during the day, not because I didn't want to, but because it was damn difficult. Mike can talk more than any human being I have ever known! His oratory skills and Segwaying from one topic to another is legendary! Almost without taking a breath or using comas or periods....and if you pause while talking, he will slide in and be off and talking again! Sometimes the "beep beep beep, that's a word trying to get in edgewise" worked, usually not.
The most enjoyable & memorable of all our years going to Canada, were the one's our sons came with us. One year, Mike's three sons, Sean, Matt & Joe came with him. Four Barnes, all with the "gift of gab"...a Teacher, a Negotiator, a Salesman & a Contrarian, made for some long, memorable nights..nights enhanced with large quantities of "adult" beverages! I think it was this trip that Matt, borrowed a Wausau PD breathalyzer to monitor our intake of said beverages. Something most of us had never used before. It was apparent, with our scientific analysis of said machine that if you get arrested for .8, you definitely should not be driving. Most of us never reached .8 & but certainly noticed 1. A degradation of our motor skills. 2. The Barnes' oratory skills were enhanced!
On Friday night of this week; after founding the Wabaskang Camp Cliff Diving Assoc., the Barnes' boys came back early to begin Happy Hour. They got a serious head start on the rest of us that night. Friday night boats are to be taken out of the water & packed for Saturday's sojourn back home. After completion of those tasks, then cocktail hour can begin. The Barnes' got the itinerary mixed up, putting cocktail HOURS before trailering the boat. The in suing trailering of Mike's aluminum boat will go down in Wabaskang Camps top 10 most funniest moments. Three intoxicated "boys" being directed by their gin filled father was absolutely the funniest boat trailering I've ever witnessed. Uncle Ken (Ken Scheidt) & I were laughing so hard, we couldn't get out of the boat. We actually summoned one of the crew to bring us a beverage, because it was obvious this event was going to last a while and we didn't want to miss any of it! This was not a big boat mind you, I think a14 footer, Mike purchased from Uncle Ken; I'm pretty sure it was Mike's, but pretty sure it was in Matt's garage most of the time. After about 15 minutes it looked like the boat had finally made it on the trailer ...and it did, but there was a tree, a complete tree between the boat and the trailer. So the process started over. After at least 30 minutes of pulling, yanking, cussing, fatherly instructions (pretty much not being listened to), the boat finally ended up on the trailer & was removed from the lake. On the trailer , but catawampus..which is how it stayed, it wasn't going back into the water for a a re-trailering! Four wet a slightly soberer Barnes' Clan now could resume happy hour. Btw, there are pictures.
If you spend, collectively, weeks in a boat with a good friend, you find out what is truly important to him, what's in his heart & soul. There were always academic soliloquies on politics, economics, history, & the Marine Corps; but with Mike, it was very apparent what was really important in his life....1. his one and only love in his life, Rosemary. He and Rosemary had a special bond that very few couples are fortunate to have & he adored her behind words! 2. His kids, Sean, Matt, Amanda & Joe...where continual topics of our fishing days together..he was incredibly proud of them and loved them beyond measure. 3. His grandchildren, now numbering eight, when talked about brought a grandfatherly twinkle to his eyes that only showed when taking about his grandkids. He absolutely loved being a grandfather & could have written a book on the topic....a very long book!!

At 1838 hours December 23, 2012 LTC Michael J. Barnes reported to his Supreme Commanding Officer at his final Duty Station. There were certainly more than a few words with St. Peter prior to reporting most importantly, to ensure that Guardian Angels were promptly dispatched to take their posts to watch over Rosemary, Sean, Matt, Amanda, Joseph, Oliver, Simon, Elliot, Lauren, Taylor, Esme, Charles and Abigail.
Mike, we all know your final post is..it's guarding Heaven's streets with your Marine Brothers.
Mike, until I show up for guard duty,
Semper Fi, my friend, Semper Fi
Jim

Rosemary, We enjoyed meeting and speaking with Mike at Girl Scout events and we know he will be missed by many. He left an enormous legacy of sharing his time and talents that will continue in his family, friends and community.

Mike was so proud of his children and grandchildren. He loved teaching his grandkids something new about nature every time they were up at the lake. I remember him telling me about the bird book he got for them and how he encouraged them to identify the birds at the feeder. You could see the glow in his face talking about his grandchildren.

Listening to Mike speak about his military adventures and enjoying his very unique outlook on life - no matter what the subject was - will be a fond memory I will never forget. Mike was our "Commodore" on many, many fishing trips to Canada and he was always happiest when his boy's were along. We all experienced great times together and these trips will never be quite the same because Mike isn't there to share them. In my experience Michael was everything a good father, husband and friend should be.

Rosemary, Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you. May you find strength in family, friends and memories. Mike was so proud of you- one of my favorite stories is how you taught his marines how to swim. He was so proud of you. It was an honor to know Mike, a man of integrity and faith.

Sean, Mary & the Barnes Family,
What an amazing tribute. Your Dad was an accomplished and devoted man - I am positive he experienced a life of love and was a very proud husband and Dad. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this time...if you need anything please let us know!

Rosemary,
My deepest sympathies my school chum. I didn't know Michael, but I knew he made you happy. May his memory remain strong and loving within your family.
--Kate (Kathy) Bradley

Rosemary,

I am so sorry to hear about your husband, Michael, he is gone too soon. As you know, we all saw each other, several years ago, at the Antigo HS reunion. I am so glad I had an opportunity to talk with Michael and sit across from him during dinner. He had so many interesting topics to talk about. Please accept my prayers for you and your family.

Love,

Kathy Sauer

From about 1988 to 1991 I worked for Mike at his detective agency. I worked my way up the ranks, through Mike's guidance and instruction.

One of many fond memories I have with Mike is, we were on a workman's comp case case up in the Laona area for several days, doing a lot of surveillance. One night we checked back into the hotel, and shortly after that, Desert Storm hit. We were glued to the TV watching the events unfold, and the patriotism oozed from the room.

When I applied for Wausau PD, Mike gave me a tremendous recommendation, even though it could have meant losing an employee. That's the kind of person Mike was, he knew the big picture and thought of others before himself. If it hadn't been for Mike's educational skills and moral teachings that he was so eager to pass on, I don't know if I'd be where I'm at today. Mike was a great boss and friend. My condolensces to Rosemary, Matt and the rest of the family.