Private First Class Barrett was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on August 10, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953.

Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Private First Class Arlie Paul Barrett were accounted for in 2024. His name is permanently inscribed on the “Courts of the Missing” at the Honolulu Memorial.