Floyd B. Parks

Major Floyd Bruce Parks (January 16, 1911 – June 4, 1942) was an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Biography

Born in Salisbury, Missouri to Elizabeth Ann & James B. Parks, Floyd was their first son together. James was widowed from an earlier marriage (Emma), by whom James C. Parks was born in 1902. Floyd became the "middle child" when his younger brother, Billy Bowman Parks, was born in 1921; their father passed away on 3 February 1924.

Floyd Bruce Parks enlisted in the Navy in 1928 and served two years as a sailor aboard destroyers; he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in 1930. More interested in reading Colliers and Saturday Evening Post than textbooks, Parks earned the infamous Black "N," a dubious award given for major infractions, on a number of occasions. He was part of the Midshipman Choir and played on Annapolis' water polo team, as well as participating in intramural football & swimming. Parks graduated with the class of 1934, and was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on June 1 of that year. He completed flight training at Pensacola in 1936; he married the former Margaret Elizabeth Murray, an El Paso native, in 1938.

As a Marine Aviator, he was promoted to the rank of Major on May 8, 1942, and given command of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Twenty One VMF-221 during the Battle of Midway. Park's squadron was predominantly equipped with Brewster F2A-3 (Model B-439) fighter aircraft, supplemented by a handful of Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats, all handed down from U.S. Navy squadrons.

During the battle of Midway, Parks was killed in action on the first day of the battle on June 4, 1942, while leading his squadron against a superior force of Japanese fighters and bombers attacking the island. For his heroism, Major Parks was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.