Captain LaBarre arrived in Pearl Harbor in October of 1941. He was aboard the USS California on the morning of December 7, 1941. He was at that time the Officer of the Day for Engineering and was pivotal in getting the California underway under what would be considered exceptional circumstances. By doing so, the ship was able to be grounded on a sandbar instead of sinking in the main ship channel and was refloated and returned to service in less than two weeks.