FLOYD B. PARKS, MAJ, USMC
Floyd Parks '34
Lucky Bag
From the 1934 Lucky Bag:
FLOYD BRUCE PARKS
Salisbury, Missouri
"Red"
SEVERAL years ago this carefree young Missourian took departure from Salisbury with destination unknown. After a couple of years in Uncle Sam's destroyers Red decided that he might do well to try the Navy as a profession so he arrived at the Naval Academy during the summer of 1930 to begin a four year cruise. After quite a battle with the Academic Depts. which got the first hold-down right at the start, he managed to survive Plebe Year and has been taking things easy ever since. In fact, he has always been far more worried over who he would drag to the next hop and why than he has been over the lesson for the next day.
Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post take precedence over Red's studies and his drags take precedence over them. He's a true snake and even a Carvel Charlie at times. He has been known to get into jams but his ready wit and cheerful energy always furnish him with a means of locomotion whenever he gets up that well-known creek.
Possessing a charming personality and an ability to make friends with everyone Red will go far in whatever career he may choose, as an officer or as a civilian. He will be as welcome in foreign countries as he is in his own home for his good humor and likable nature will always make a place for him. A true friend and loval shipmate, we wish him luck.
Water Polo. Class Football. Choir. Class Swimming. Black N******. 2 P.O.
FLOYD BRUCE PARKS
Salisbury, Missouri
"Red"
SEVERAL years ago this carefree young Missourian took departure from Salisbury with destination unknown. After a couple of years in Uncle Sam's destroyers Red decided that he might do well to try the Navy as a profession so he arrived at the Naval Academy during the summer of 1930 to begin a four year cruise. After quite a battle with the Academic Depts. which got the first hold-down right at the start, he managed to survive Plebe Year and has been taking things easy ever since. In fact, he has always been far more worried over who he would drag to the next hop and why than he has been over the lesson for the next day.
Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post take precedence over Red's studies and his drags take precedence over them. He's a true snake and even a Carvel Charlie at times. He has been known to get into jams but his ready wit and cheerful energy always furnish him with a means of locomotion whenever he gets up that well-known creek.
Possessing a charming personality and an ability to make friends with everyone Red will go far in whatever career he may choose, as an officer or as a civilian. He will be as welcome in foreign countries as he is in his own home for his good humor and likable nature will always make a place for him. A true friend and loval shipmate, we wish him luck.
Water Polo. Class Football. Choir. Class Swimming. Black N******. 2 P.O.
Loss
Floyd was lost when his Brewster F2A Buffalo was shot down on June 4, 1942, during the Battle of Midway.
Other Information
From Wikipedia's entry on Floyd:
Parks was born in Salisbury, Missouri, the first child of James B. Parks and his wife Elizabeth Ann Bowman. James Parks was a widower with one son from his first marriage. Floyd Parks also had a younger brother, Billy Bowman Parks, born in 1921. Their father died on 3 February 1924.
Floyd Parks enlisted in the United States Navy in 1928 and served two years aboard destroyers. In 1930, he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Parks earned the infamous Black "N" award, given for major infractions, on a number of occasions. He sang in the Midshipman Choir and was a member of Annapolis' water polo team, also participating in football and swimming. Parks graduated in the upper third of his class of 1934, and chose a commission in United States Marine Corps. He was appointed a second lieutenant on June 1 and assigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a year, before serving on the cruiser USS Astoria (CA-34). In May 1936, he reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. While swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, Parks and an enlisted man rescued a Marine private from drowning, winning commendation for his "quick action, good judgment and swimming ability".
Parks was designated a Naval Aviator on 12 June 1937, and in August reported to Naval Air Station San Diego, California. The following year, he married Margaret Elizabeth Murray of El Paso, Texas. In June 1940, he was reassigned to NAS Pensacola as a flight instructor. In May 1941, he transferred to the First Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force, Quantico, Virginia, and trained as a dive bomber pilot. He remained in that assignment until March 1942, when he joined the Second Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego for deployment to Midway.
He was promoted to the rank of major on 8 May 1942, and given command of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221). Parks' squadron was predominantly equipped with Brewster F2A-3 (Model B-439) fighter aircraft, supplemented by a handful of Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats, all handed down from U.S. Navy squadrons. More than half of the aviators assigned to Parks' unit were fresh from flight training in San Diego.
In addition to his wife Margaret, he was survived by his mother, Elizabeth Ann, and his brother, Billy.
He has a memory marker in Missouri.
Photographs
Major Parks in March, 1942
From Hall of Valor:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Major Floyd Bruce Parks (MCSN: 0-5006), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession while serving as Squadron Commander and a Pilot in Marine Fighting Squadron TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE (VMF-221), Marine Air Group TWENTY-TWO (MAG-22), Naval Air Station, Midway, during operations of the U.S. Naval and Marine Forces against the invading Japanese Fleet during the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. Leading his squadron in a dauntless and aggressive attack against a vastly superior number of Japanese bomber and fighter planes, Major Parks aided in disruption the plans of the enemy and lessening the effectiveness of their attack, thereby contributing materially to the success of our forces. As a result of his courageous and daring tactics and because of the circumstances attendant upon this engagement, there can be little doubt that Major Parks gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country. He displayed the characteristics of a fine leader and excellent airman in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Approved by the Secretary of the Navy on November 10, 1942
Action Date: 4-Jun-42
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Major
Company: Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221)
Regiment: Marine Air Group 22 (MAG-22)
Division: Naval Air Station, Midway
Namesake
USS Floyd B. Parks (DD 884) was named for him; his widow was present at the commissioning ceremony.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1934
October 1934
January 1935
April 1935
October 1935
January 1936
April 1936
LTjg John Duke '26
1LT Ernest Pollock '28
LTjg William Pennewill '29
LTjg Gilbert Carpenter '30
LTjg Lance Massey '30
LTjg William Sisko '31
LTjg Charles Mallory, Jr. '32
July 1936
LTjg John Duke '26
CAPT Ernest Pollock '28
LTjg William Pennewill '29
LTjg Gilbert Carpenter '30
LTjg Lance Massey '30
LTjg William Sisko '31
LTjg Charles Crommelin '31
January 1937
LT John Duke '26
CAPT Ernest Pollock '28
LTjg William Pennewill '29
LTjg Gilbert Carpenter '30
LTjg Lance Massey '30
LTjg William Sisko '31
1LT Harold Larson '31
LTjg Charles Crommelin '31
ENS Harold Von Weller '33
April 1937
CAPT Ernest Pollock '28
LTjg William Pennewill '29
LTjg Gilbert Carpenter '30
LTjg Lance Massey '30
1LT Harold Larson '31
LTjg Charles Crommelin '31
ENS Harold Von Weller '33
September 1937
January 1938
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
LT Finley Hall '29
LT Lance Massey '30
LT Charles Ostrom '30
LTjg George Bellinger '32
LTjg Martin Koivisto '32
LTjg Daniel Gothie '32
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Jack Ferguson '35
LTjg Joel Davis, Jr. '35
LTjg Francis Maher, Jr. '35
LTjg John Powers '35
LTjg Frank Robinson '36
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LT William Townsend '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg Dewitt Shumway '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 1D8)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
November 1940
CDR William Sample '19
LT William Pennewill '29
LT Finley Hall '29
LT John Yoho '29
LT Lance Massey '30
LT George Bellinger '32
LT Martin Koivisto '32
LT John Spiers '32
LT Daniel Gothie '32
LT Dewitt Shumway '32
LT Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33
ENS Frank Peterson '33
LTjg Charles Brewer '34
LTjg Walker Ethridge '34
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Frank Whitaker '34
LTjg Philip Torrey, Jr. '34
LTjg George Nicol '34
LTjg Victor Gadrow '35
LTjg John Powers '35
LTjg Allan Edmands '35
LTjg Roy Krogh '36
LTjg Porter Maxwell '36
LTjg Richard Hughes '37
LTjg Frank Henderson, Jr. '37
LTjg John Thomas '37
LTjg John Boal '37
ENS Harry Howell '38
ENS Eric Allen, Jr. '38
ENS James Ginn '38
ENS Oswald Zink '38
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38
ENS Howard Fischer '38
ENS Edmundo Gandia '38
ENS Charles Reimann '38
ENS Howard Clark '38
ENS Roy Hale, Jr. '38
ENS Leonard Thornhill '38
ENS Osborne Wiseman '38
ENS John Eversole '38
ENS Jep Jonson '38
ENS Roy Green, Jr. '38
ENS Marion Dufilho '38
2LT James Owens '38
ENS William Brady '38
ENS Charles Anderson '38
ENS Carl Holmstrom '38
ENS Charles King '38
2LT John Maclaughlin, Jr. '38
ENS William Tate, Jr. '38
2LT Douglas Keeler '38
ENS Harry Bass '38
ENS John Kelley '38
ENS John Erickson '38
ENS William Lamberson '38
ENS Donald Smith '38
ENS Frank Quady '38
ENS Richard Crommelin '38
ENS Robert Seibels, Jr. '38
ENS Alphonse Minvielle '38
April 1941
LT William Pennewill '29
LT Finley Hall '29
LT John Yoho '29
LT William Sisko '31
LT George Bellinger '32
LT Martin Koivisto '32
LT John Spiers '32
LT Archibald Greenlee '32
LT Daniel Gothie '32
LT Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John McCormack, Jr. '33
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
