Ed Parks WW2 POW

Middleboro - Ed Parks, who served as grand marshall of the town's Veterans Day Parade, remembers the fallen soldiers he served with during World War 11. "I represented those who couldn't make it, " he said. "I wasn't a hero. Most of the real heroes are all dead, and I knew a lot of them."
Parks, 83, fought in the European Theater, was wounded six times and taken prisoner by the Nazis. After returning to civilian life, he remained a member of the Army Reserves until age 60, retiring as a major. He has been involved in several veterans' associations ans has been invited to speak to Congress about veterans issues.
"I was involved in the Normandy invasion, but not on D-Day," Parks recalled from his Miller Road home. " I went in one month later for the second effort."
This second wave was devised in case the D-Day landing had not successfully established a foothold on the European mainland, he explained. Soon, Allied forces began pushing the German army out of France. It was during this campaign, in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, when Parks suffered his first of six injuries.
"I was wounded severely in the breakout," he said. "The platoon was wiped out in one day. I was hit in the head, and my shoulder was almost shot off."
Parks' division lost 8,000 men in the 20- day battle.
As for Parks, he spent the next five months in the hospital, but returned to his unit once he was given a clean bill of health.
Parks, who served in the 28th Infantry Division, was a sergeant during the war and retired as a major.
Once he returned to action, Parks fought in the pivitol Battle of the Bulge, where his unit suffered many loses.
"We held the Germans back for three days, then we ran out of ammunition," Parks said. "I put my hands up. I surrended the unit to get medical treatment for our wounded."
He said the Germans treated the wounded American soldiers who could still walk, but the soldiers who were more severely injured were left behind. "They made us carry their wounded," Parks said.
During the nearly five months he spent as a prisoner, Parks lost nearly half his body weight due to malnutrition. "I weighed 85 pounds at the end of the war," he said. "But we were tough then."
Parks, who spent several months recuperating in England before heading home to the United States, recalled the end of the war in Europe."When the war was over, the guards just evaporated," he said. "The (American forces) came with trucks and brought us back to a German city. Then they sent me to England."
Parks, who was born in Fall River and raised in New Bedford, moved to Middleboro in 1950- the year he married his wife,Christine.
At the Nov. 11 parade she rode alongside him as co-marshall. "It was quite an honor," he said.
After the parade, Parks and other veterans participated in ceremonies to remember the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in service to the country.
" I was lucky to come back," Parks said.
........... (By Gerry Tuoti, staff writer Taunton Gazette.)............

In addition to serving as Grand Marshalls for the 2006 Veterans Day Parade, Ed Parks and his wife Christine, during the ceremonies held in the Middleboro Veterans Memorial Park, were participants in the awarding of High School diplomas to six veterans, who had joined the service prior to graduating.
Three World War 2 veterans received diplomas. They were Fred Austin Nourse, (posthumously) Robert Francis Noyer and Ellsworth Fillmore Crowell, Jr. Two veterans, who had served in the Korean War, also received diplomas: Donald Louis Falconeiri and Edwin Smalley. Viet Nam veteran William Paul Holmes also received his diploma.
Middleboro Veterans Service Officer Paul Provencher was quoted in an article in the November 16, 2006 edition of the Middleboro Gazette as saying," I think its great that we're able to award diplomas to individuals who had such patriotism to withdraw from high school in order to serve in the armed forces of the United States."
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Edward W. Parks passed on November 17, 2007.
The Town of Middleboro annual report of 2007 was dedicated to Ed and his wife Christine M.(West) Parks, who died just several days before Ed.
Ed was an active member of American Legion Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64 for a number of years. He was also involved with the Veterans of Foreign Wars John Glass, Jr Post 2188 in Middleboro. And, he held membership in the Disabled American Veterans, the Purple Heart Association, the P.O.W. Association and the Sons of Union Soldiers.
..................Compiled by Post 64 Historian Bob Lessard 2014.)