C. Walder Parke letter to General Omar Bradley about veterans' benefits, April 12,   Save
Charles Walder Parke WW2 Collection
Description: Letter from C. Walder Parke to the Veterans Administration regarding a subsistence payment that Parke felt he was owed under the G. I. Bill of Rights. Parke enrolled as a part-time student and began work as a full-time employee on October 1, 1945, and had applied for veterans' benefits on September 1, the day of his discharge from the Army Air Forces. This letter was his attempt to collect the payment for the month prior to his employment, since he already knew that full-time employees were not eligible for this benefit. The Veterans Administration did not grant his request. Charles Walder Parke was born on July 28, 1924, and grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 intending to be a pilot during WWII, but spent most of his military career as a navigator on B-17 Flying Fortresses in the 94th Bombardment Group. Parke earned two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his successful bombing missions, including some over Berlin. He is best known for being on board a B-17 which was shot down over France by German planes on June 25, 1944, during a non-combat mission. The crew managed to make an emergency landing, and everyone inside survived. After the war, Parke founded the Cleveland-based Laurel Industries Inc., which became a prominent supplier of antimony oxide to the plastics industry. He died of Lou-Gehrig’s Disease on September 15, 1996, at the age of 72. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1510_B01F30_001
Subjects: Veterans--Loans; Cleveland College; United States. Veterans Administration; Parke, Charles Walder, 1924-1996
Places: Washington (District of Columbia); Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio);