53rd Troop Carrier Squadron Veterans and Friends
19 October at 14:49 ·
It is with great sadness - and with great gratitude - that we report the passing of an original member of the 53rd Troop Carrier Squadron. GERALD ARTHUR PARKER, July 16, 1922 - October 18, 2017. C-47 Power Pilot. Original deployment to North Africa, Husky-1, Husky-2, Avalanche-1, Avalanche-2, Neptune-Boston, Market-1, Market-2, and Market-3. Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters. A Staff/Sergeant pilot, then Flight Officer, then 2nd Lt., then 1st Lt. A kid growing up in the Great Depression, who didn't see much in the way of opportunities, he decided to sign up and become an Army aircraft powerplant mechanic. It could be a steady trade later in the civilian world. The Army trained him to work on aircraft powerplants. But on December 7, 1941 things changed. Eventually the call went out for pilots. He thought flying an aircraft might be interesting, so he tested, passing each time. He tested well enough and often enough to become a cadet, and eventually a Staff/Sergeant pilot. The rest is history. He actually flew, many times, the above photographed aircraft 42-32832. After the war he would eventually join the C.A.A. (which became the F.A.A.) in a management position controlling a region of the U.S. airspace. Happy on the golf course, happy winning at Bridge. Always a gentleman, a best friend, and never forgot his friends lost in war. Grateful for his life are wife Beverly May (Worrell) Parker, and daughter Judy.