…well, Donald Wade went off on the schoolbus for the first time today…
Dearest Will,
…The boys taught Lizzy P. to say daddy today…
Dearest Will,
Your letter finally reached me, the first one from the battle zone. Oh Will I’m so worried about your ears I wish I could drop some warmed sweet oil in them for you and wash your hair and comb it the way you used to like for me to do. Miss Beasley and I think we figured out for sure where you are and we think it’s Guadalcanal and it scares me to death to think of you there ’cause I know the fighting has been terrible there and its Japanese territory…
WESTERN UNION
REGRET TO INFORM YOU YOUR HUSBAND WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN ACTION 25 OCT IN SOLOMON ISLANDS. UNTIL NEW ADDRESS IS RECEIVED MAIL FOR HIM QUOTE CORPORAL WILLIAM L. PARKER 37 773 785 HOSPITALIZED CENTRAL POSTAL DIRECTORY APO0640 CARE POSTMASTER NEW YORK NY UNQUOTE NEW ADDRESS AND FURTHER INFORMATION FOLLOW DIRECT FROM HOSPITAL. J A ULIO THE ADJT GENERAL 7:10 A.M.
Dear Will,
I’m so worried. Oh Will I got a telegram and they said you were seriously wounded but nothing else-not where you are or how you are or anything…
Dear Will,
I didn’t sleep a wink last night just laid awake crying and wondering if you’re still alive or if you have lost an arm or a leg or your beautiful brown eyes…
Dear Will,
…Sometimes I get so upset because all anybody will tell you is Somewhere In The South Pacific but Miss Beasley pointed out an article about Mrs. Roosevelt visiting the troops overseas and even it started 'Somewhere In England,' so I guess if it’s good enough for the president’s wife it’ll have to be good enough for me but I’m worried sick about you…
Dear Will,
It just struck me that the telegram said corporal so you got promoted! I shucked off my drears and turned my thoughts positive cause thats the only thing to do. You’re alive I know it I won’t give up hope and I’ll write every single day whether I hear from you or not…
4193 US Navy Hosp. Plant
APO 515
New York, NY
Dear Mrs. Parker,
I am pleased to inform you that on 1 Nov 1942 your husband, Corp. William L. Parker, 37 773 785, was making normal improvement. Diagnosis wound left thigh.
Thomas M. Simpson
1st Lieut. M.A.O. Registrar
4193 US Navy Hosp. Plant
APO 515
New York, NY
Dear Mrs. Parker,
I am pleased to inform you that on 6 Nov 1942 your husband, Corp. William L. Parker, 37 773 785, was evacuated to zone of noncombat and underwent surgery on wound, left thigh. Is making normal improvement.
Virgil A. Saylor, 1st Lt.,
MAC Registrar
U.S. War Department
Official Business
Dear Mrs. Parker,
As commanding officer of your husband, Corporal William L. Parker who was injured in action 1 Nov 1942 on the Island of Guadalcanal I felt it imperative to reassure you that his condition is no longer life threatening and that eventual recovery can be fully expected. On 6 November he was transferred by air to the Navy hospital at Melbourne, Australia where he underwent successful surgery and awaits transfer to the United States.
Corporal Parker is a credit to his company and to the United States Marines. He fought well and without complaint. On 14 Sept 1942, while engaging the enemy in action on Guadalcanal, Corporal Parker displayed conspicuous gallantry in attempting to rescue Private Otis D. Luttrell by dragging him to a foxhole under heavy enemy fire. On 25 October Corporal Parker again proved himself a leader by singlehandedly knocking out a Japanese dugout emplacement which was holding up our advance. The enemy hole-up was situated in a cave made inaccessible by severe enemy fire from inside. Corporal Parker voluntarily crawled to the cave from its blind side, attempted to knock a hole in the roof and when unable to do so, attempted to kick the rocks away at the foot of the cave. Four times he threw hand grenades inside only to have them promptly returned by the Japanese. Next Corporal Parker tried holding the grenades for three seconds before delivering them. When these were also returned, Parker reportedly 'got mad' and made a dynamite bomb which he thrust into the breach killing eight Japanese soldiers but receiving injuries to himself from an enemy fragmentation grenade which simultaneously detonated at the mouth of the cave.
Because of Corporal Parker’s determination and bravery the 1st Raider Bn. won a decisive victory over the Japanese at the mouth of the Ilu River, rendering them a loss of 12 tanks and some 600 troops in the 1st Marine sector.
It is with pride and pleasure that for heroism above and beyond the call of duty I am recommending to the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces that Corporal William L. Parker, USMC 1st Raider Battalion, be awarded the medal of valor of the Order of the Purple Heart.
Yours truly,
Col. Merritt A. Edson
Commander, 1st Marine Raiders
USMC
Balboa Naval Hospital
San Diego, California
Dear Mrs. Parker,
I am pleased to inform you that on 6 Dec 1942 your husband, Corp. William L. Parker, 37 773 785, was transferred to Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego U.S.A. for further medical treatment.
Balboa Naval Hospital
San Diego
Dear Elly,
I’m home again and you don’t need to worry any more. A Red Cross nurse is writing this for me because the doc won’t let me sit up yet. I finally got all your letters. They caught up with me in a hospital in Melbourne. Elly honey it was so good to read all those words from you, all about Donald Wade going to school and Lizzy P. saying her first words and how they taught her to say Daddy. I wish I was there with you all now but it looks like that’ll be a while yet. My leg isn’t so good but at least I’ve still got it and it might be stiff but I’ll be able to walk, they say. The docs here say I’m still carrying a piece of metal in my left leg and I may have to have surgery again. But what the heck, at least I’m alive.
