[1] Born on August 22, 1889, Raymond Oscar Barton graduated from the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, with the class of 1912.

[3] Many of his West Point classmates later became general officers during World War II as he did, such as Wade H. Haislip, John Shirley Wood, Walton Walker, Harry J. Malony, Walter M. Robertson, William H. Wilbur, Franklin C. Sibert, Robert McGowan Littlejohn, Stephen J. Chamberlin, Archibald Vincent Arnold, Albert E. Brown, Gilbert R. Cook and Millard Harmon.

[1] The United States entered World War II in December 1941, by which time Barton was a temporary colonel, having been promoted to that rank on February 14.

[1] Having gained for himself a reputation as an excellent trainer of troops, Barton dedicated himself to training the men under his command for their ultimate test, the Allied invasion of Normandy, which would be their baptism of fire.

The division conducted training in amphibious landings at Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida, and continued to do so after it left the United States, arriving in January 1944 in England, from where the Allies would launch the invasion, then scheduled for May 1944.

[3] The Allies' plan for the invasion was for the U.S. VII Corps, under Major General J. Lawton Collins, to seize and hold Utah Beach, with Barton's 4th Division as its spearhead.