James Robert Parker
| NAME: James Robert Parker | NICKNAME: — | SERVICE NUMBER: 983625 | |||||
| HOME OF RECORD: Hazlehurst, MS | NEXT OF KIN: Parents, James & Myrtle Parker | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: 12/24/1925 | SERVICE DATES: 5/31/1944 – 3/1/1945 | DATE OF DEATH: 3/1/1945 | |||||
| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| Iwo Jima | C/1/24 | 605 | Private | KIA | |||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: Purple Heart | LAST KNOWN RANK: Private | ||||||
We started taking mortar and artillery fire about noon [on 1 March 1945]. My friend Jim Parker was an assistant machine gunner. He was carrying ammunition up to the front and jumped into my foxhole just as a mortar barrage started landing in our area. Jim said, "I've got to join my machine gun group." Then he jumped out of my foxhole and ran maybe 15 or 20 yards over to another hole where his machine gun was. It was just a couple of minutes after that a mortar round fell in that hole, killing Jim and the rest of that crew.
