Julia Rose Parker
Circa 1925

Five years later, the Parkers had another son, Donald Leroy Parker, born on October 14, 1927. I'm rather glad he was born, since he is my father and I wouldn't be here to tell this story without him. He was born at home, in the same beautiful old ranch house in which my sister and I were later raised. Marion was no doubt curious about this new little brother who was vying with him for Ma and Pa's attention.

Vernie Parker
Year Unknown

The Parkers owned some farmland in a rural town called Clearlake Highlands, California. Its claim to fame is Clear Lake, the "largest natural lake in California". The lake lies beneath a long-dormant volcano, Mt. Konocti.

Marion L. Parker
Circa 1930

The boys attended school in Lower Lake, a small community a few miles away. Marion happened to keep a diary for a few weeks during 1937. He was 15 years old; and younger brother Don was 10. The diary entries (shown below) give us a unique opportunity to see into his life and to know him, just a little bit.

Tuesday, November 30, 1937: Went to High School to practise basketball. B-team beat us A's twice. Loyd and Hiller made our points. I couldn't hit anything. Went with Wally. Raced Jimmy home, about hit a car on Brandelin's hill.

Wednesday, December 1, 1937: C's beat Lower Lake Grammar School. Hauled corn in the trailer from Rock Pile field. Had our pictures taken at High School.

Thursday, December 2, 1937: Lower Lake Grammar School beat East Lake Grammar 24-14. Hauled corn again. Might go with Alton to Lakeport to play basketball.

Friday, December 3, 1937: Went to Lakeport with Alton. A's lost 7-27, B's won 30-21. Went to show. Hit white post and smashed fender in Big G.

Saturday, December 4, 1937: Pa, Ed and I picked corn. Alt. said was allright about fender. Played kickback. Played Monopoly. Dad won.

Sunday, December 5, 1937: Picked corn again today. Played kickback until six. Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara came.

Monday, December 6, 1937: Had glee club first period. Practised basketball in study hall, played most of the period until got pooped in third game.

Tuesday, December 7, 1937: Lower Lake Grammar beat Kelseyville 12-7. Charlotte sat on Ed's lap all the way home on the bus.

Wednesday, December 8, 1937: Had the first of our Spanish II spelling matches. Clair, Frances, Bill, Maurice Miles, Dixie James, Marjorie Coleman and I were left up.

Thursday, December 9, 1937: Went to basketball practise last night. A's beat B's, 21-27. Second match left up. Bill, Coleman, Miles and James. Went in with Jimmy and Ed.

Friday, December 10, 1937: Rained yesterday and today. Most water in creek Pa had seen for long time. Washed out foot-bridge by Aunt Edna's. Got out of school at 2:00.

Saturday, December 11, 1936: (note: dates changes to 1936) Worked on jam under bridge all morning. Killed a lot of stray pidgeons. Went to show with Ed. Had wrong picture. Rotten.

Sunday, December 12: Worked on the jam. Played football. Got a cold from working in the water. Hurt leg and ankle, played Monopoly. Dad won.

Monday, December 13: Went to geometry for a test. Ed got A, Pete Menzies A- and me B+. Got 144 sentences in Spanish. Saw the big washouts out on Cache Creek.

Tuesday, December 14: Won another contest in Spanish. Marjorie Coleman, Dixie, Maurice, Alton and I left. Played kickback at Ed's.

Wednesday, December 15: Played kickback at Ed's again

Thursday, December 16: Will get a carrying case for basketball clothes for Christmas. Had a big test in Spanish II.

Friday, December 17: Had our Spanish Daily. Got a small red truck. Saw many crazy gifts. Will be out of school til 3rd of January.

Saturday, December 18: Ma and Pa went to Lakeport to see about a refridgerator. Went to Ed's but he was sick.

Sunday, December 19: They went to Bonin's (sp?) today. Stayed home. Ed had company today.

Monday, December 20: Hauled wood, burned brush, pulled a stump and took out a jam down by Leo's place.

Tuesday, December 21: Planted grain today and then plowed in afternoon.

Wednesday, December 22: Plowed and worked and blasted stumps.

Thursday, December 23: Plowed all day today.

Friday, December 24: Started to plow. Rained so come up and built a plank floor in the stable. Hauled dirt to fill in with.

Saturday, December 25: Finished floor today. Went to Lakeport. Played Monopoly last night til 11 at Ed's. Went to Parker's for tree.

Sunday, December 26: Plowed this afternoon. Pa worked on the stumps in afternoon and plowed in the morning.

Monday, December 27: Plowed all day today. Pa pruned Benson's lot. Got a Norge Refrigater yesterday.

Tuesday, December 28: Plowed all day today. Went to Daly's today. Pa worked on Benson's lot.

Wednesday, December 29: Plowed all day today. Mr. Allander died at 1:00 this morning. Mrs. Allander brought Ed's clothes over here. Pa worked on Benson's lot.

Thursday, December 30, 1937: Cleaned out the horse barn in the morning. Plowed in big field by Leo's in the afternoon. Daly's came down tonite.

Friday, December 31, 1937: Cleaned out cow barn. Pa cleaned out pig place yesterday.

Saturday, January 1, 1938: (no entry)

Sunday, January 2, 1938: Went to Morrell's today.

Monday, January 3, 1938 Ed stayed here today.

There is also a ledger of earnings, apparently from work during the summer. Chores ranged from "worms" to "watering", and averaged 20 cents per hour. Over a period of several days, a grand sum of \\$12.25 was earned for 56 hours of work.

We get another glimpse into the lives of Marion and his brother Don here in a photograph taken during the summer of 1939 at Treasure Island, California. It was obviously a happy day for the two brothers, as they walk in step with each other.

After graduation from Lower Lake Union High School, Marion took a job working with sheet metal at Mare Island Naval Shipyards near Oakland, California. This was about 100 miles from home and his girlfriend, Loretta Pluth, may not have been too happy about this! She was in Sacramento, studying to be a nurse at the time

But according to Don, Marion didn't care for sheet metal work and didn't feel he was doing much for the War Effort. Ultimately, he and his friend Pete Menzies made the trip to Southern California and landed jobs at Lockheed -- building P38 pursuit planes. War-time documents list his home address as Glendale, California.

Pete Menzies soon enlisted, and he became a pilot in a single-seater pursuit plane. About 2 weeks later, Marion L. Parker was drafted. He entered the service on January 30, 1943, at the age of 20. Relatives remember that his mother took him to the train depot in Williams, California and bid him good-bye at the station.

He was trained to be a radio operator at a technical school in Sioux Falls, SD. His graduation yearbook shows the very young faces of America's newest radio operators, trained in gunnery, marching and combat. The book reveals a special friendship with a few men in particular, over whose pictures he wrote nicknames or comments. There were two of these men who took the trouble to give their pictures to Marion, and write their home towns on the back.

To my knowledge, all crewmen who flew combat volunteered for such duty. I don't know what other training Marion received, or why he decided that being on a bomber crew in the skies over Occupied Europe was a good idea, but it is certain that he chose to go. After technical school, he joined up with the other crew members, and they flew a B-17 across the Atlantic Ocean.

On April 7, 1944, Marion arrived at Grafton Underwood, Station 106, England, and was assigned to the 384th Bombardment Group, 544th Squadron. He probably flew practice missions for several days, and then it was time for the real thing. Maybe he had trouble sleeping the night before; maybe he felt some trepidation at the prospect of flying a real mission. He might have written a letter, talked with a friend, or thought about home. Perhaps he was just anxious to get going, after a year and 3 months of training.

On April 27, 1944, the 384th Bombardment Group flew 2 missions. The 4:00 A.M. mission was "just a milk run", a short bombing run over France. The Germans had a V-1 rocket launching facility in Sottevast, France, and the 384th was going to take it out. The crew was no doubt awakened very early, maybe 2 or 3 AM, for chow. Then they went to the briefing room where they were told the target and mission information.

The crews then went to their hardstands. Marion's aircraft was B-17 #42-97136, marked "SU-J", silver in color, with no nose art. It was a "G" Model, and had a chin turret for extra protection. Now the men concentrated on the job at hand, and there was no time for nerves or second thoughts.

The flare was fired on the air field, signaling that the mission was on, and the crew boarded their aircraft. Some crew members pulled themselves through the nose hatch and the rest entered through the waist door. Herbert Small was the pilot, and the co-pilot, Ray Morris, helped him fire up the four big engines for take-off. The ball turret gunner, John Reynolds,sat in the waist for take-off. John Sewack was the bombardier, and he was to actually guide the plane over the target. He rode in the nose with James McGue, the Navigator, who would be responsible for tracking their progress and checking their position.

The loneliest guy there was probably Ed Potkay, as the tail gunner position is the farthest away from the others. Richard Pirello got up in the top turret and prepared to watch for enemy fighters. The two waist gunners, Russell Ulrich and David George, settled down in the belly of the plane and awaited take-off. And our Marion sat in the radio room, hoping he would remember his training and do the right thing at the right time. He put on his headset and concentrated on this, his very first mission.

Then the sixteen bombers of the 384th Bomb Group rolled down the runway, one after the other at 30-second intervals, and took flight. One by one they came, the "Aces & Ates", the "Damn Yankee", and all the others. They were weighed down with guns, ammunition and heavy bombs, and young men on their way to combat.

Out over the Channel, the planes began to get into formation, and the ball gunner got into his turret. Guns were test fired, radio checks done, and oxygen masks went on when they reached altitude. Air temperatures dropped far below zero, and the crew donned their gloves and plugged their blue-colored heated suits into the electrical outlets for warmth.

Sottevast is just south of Cherbourg, so they would only be over enemy territory for a short while. However, the target was mightily protected by anti-aircraft guns, and the enemy usually had ample warning that a bomber stream was on the way.

Things went fine until our heroes reached the I.P. (Initial Point). Now they had to fly straight as an arrow and not waiver until the bombs were released, and that is when they were the most vulnerable. There were flack bursts in the air, and the ride was bumpy. Then the bombardier called "Bombs Away", and their payload fell to earth on its deadly mission.

Shortly after bombs away, B-17 # 42-97136 was hit by flak in the left wing. The explosion caused a fire in the cockpit, which spread rapidly to the rest of the plane. Another pilot observed the plane, its left wing on fire, peeling out of formation. It was apparently heading slightly southwest, and there was an explosion.

Crash Site near Rocheville, France

Some eyewitnesses on the ground stated that there were parachutes in the air, and that the escaping crewmen were killed by enemy gunfire as they floated to the ground. This is probably untrue, and is well refuted by other eyewitnesses who say that all perished in the crash and that there were no chutes.

There is a slight possibility that Marion actually survived the crash. A letter to his mother from the Air Corps states in part, "He was taken to a Main Aid Station at St. Georges d'Aunay, France, where he died." They claim that this information was obtained when they translated "several volumes of captured German records." It is still difficult to state with certainty that he survived the crash, as information from Occupied Europe at that time was sketchy, and eyewitnesses claim to have seen no survivors.

Meanwhile, Marion's family worked the farm and waited for word of him. Fifteen-year-old Don was no doubt especially unnerved by his brother's absence.

Donald L. Parker
Circa 1948, New York

On May 9, 1944, the Parkers received the dreaded telegram listing Marion as Missing In Action. Julia, a buxom woman with a heart of gold, wept and hoped for the best. It was not until June 30, 1944 that "MIA" was confirmed as "KIA".

The French interred Marion's body on April 29, 1944, in the Cherbourg Civil Cemetery, Allied Section, Grave 107. In March of 1945, however, the temporary US Military Cemetery at Blosville, France was established, and Marion's body was re-interred in Plot AA, Row 7, Grave 128.

In 1949, Marion was re-interred in Plot D, Row 28, Grave 4 at the Military Cemetery in St. Laurent, France. Given the choice of bringing his remains home or having them permanently interred overseas, the family chose to lay him to his final rest in the country where he died, alongside his buddies with whom he served, and in a place with dignity. It was of some comfort that his resting place would be maintained in perpetuity by the United States government.

It was many years before my father learned exactly what happened to his brother that day over France. He knew only that Marion had been a radio operator/gunner and that they were shot down over Normandy. For 56 years, my father carried a question mark in his heart, though he said little.

The New Millennium would lead us to new information, to some wonderful new friends, and to a new internal peace. With the help of Dewayne Bennett, Ken Decker and others, I was able to research my uncle's life, his untimely death, and to help our family heal old wounds. Now we go forward with this website as a tribute to Marion L. Parker, his brave crew, and all the veterans of the 384th Bombardment Group, Heavy.

MAY THEY NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.