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The following story about M/Sgt. Emmett V. Parker, who was reared at Newmoore the son of Mr. and Mrs. N. s. Parker, well-known farm ers, appeared recently in the Fort Bliss (El Paso) News. Three of Mr. and Mrs. Park ers ten children have had service in the Army. By Pfc. Howard Gordon Fort Bliss News It must be a strange feeling to c come back from the dead” . Nevertheless, a Fort Bliss MP ergeant knows what “that feel ing” is. Faith paid off for an Italian war bride who refused to believe official reports that her sergeant husband was killed in action. For it was in September, 1953, that M/Sgt. Emmett V. Parker, after having been officially reported killed in action, was released from a North Korean prison camp in “Operation Big Switch.” Master Sergeant Parker, who heads the El Paso station of the 591st Military Police company, was reported by the army as kill ed in action November 29, 1950, in Korea. He even has statements of death to “prove” it—plus a purple Heart medal awarded to him posthumously b ut if your curiosity is whetted just as your reporter’s was when he spoke with Master Sergeant Parker, you'd better head what really happened. It all began August 1, 1950 when Parker left the states with the 2nd Infantry division sailing for Korea. Upon arrival in Korea his company was made up mostly of South Korean soldiers and was commanded by an American Chinese army major. The job of the company consisted of prisoner interrogation and going behind the enemy lines to feel out the enemy What actually happened is de scribed in a letter from Parker’s commanding officer to his par ents. The letter reads: “Our division was ordered to withdraw. There was an enemy roadblock. I was ordered to take charge of one company of Ameri can Infantry soldiers, some Tur kish and Korean soldiers and four tanks, since the American captain was wounded. “I ordered two tanks to sup port the company of US soldiers in an attack against the enemy who were blocking a road. On one side of the road was a high hill which had to be secured in order to protect the American soldiers I ordered one tank for support and personally led the 72 Koreans to take the hill. Your son volunteered to go with me. I was in the forward elements while your son was in the rear... As we were placing machine guns to fire, your son shouted that mes sengers were approaching. The message was orders to withdraw from the hill, since plans had been ordered to bomb the area. I ordered your son to take his men down the hill to the road. During this retreat the enemy had reach ed a high position and were fir ing on us. We were fortunate to have the tank for some protec tion . .. The last I saw of your son, he and two companions were close by the tank at the south end of a ditch. I went some 200 yards north in the ditch and set up defensive measures . . . Dur ing the withdrawal from the hill, I saw an American fall and for a time I thought it was your son, and to this day I am not sure who he was.” Parker says that he was shot and wounded by an enemy burp gun when he and his men were retreating on the hillside. And to top it off a concussion grenade burst nearby. As Chinese Com munist troops were advancing they passed Parker’s unconcious body on the hillside. One commie soldier noticed a gold wedding band on Parker’s finger and a wrist watch on his arm. Parker ‘came to’ when the Commie sol dier tried to loosen the wedding band from his finger. He was tied up and put with a few Turks and South Koreans in a nearby ditch. They were all told to kneel down with their hands behind them. The Commie soldier, who had an American M-1 rifle walked behind the men in the ditch pointing the rifle to their backs. The prisoners kept arguing with the Commie not to kill them—but the click of the safety off on the rifle. On hear ing the safety click off Parker jumped up an shouted. Just then a Chinese Commun ist officer came up and marched Parker and the Turks off. The others were shot and killed in the ditch. To this day Parker doesn’t know why he was one of the men whom the Chinese Com munist officer ordered away. In about three days Parker and a building with other prisoners the Turk soldiers were placed in about five miles away from where they were captured. Then they marched for a week and a half in just the clothes they had when captured—into a place termed by the GI's as Death Valley. Here they stayed for one month. Many men died from lice which sucked blood from them. All that they had to eat was a hot bowl of malt (a ground grain) for breakfast and supper which is usually fed to horses. They slept on dirt ground, side by side and very close, so close that when one man turned over, they all had to turn. And there were no blankets Meanwhile, Mrs. Parker, back home in Lamesa, Texas with their daughter, refused to believe re ports of her husband’s death— and just kept going on as if her husband would be back home soon. She kept her faith. In January, 1951, Parker and the rest of the prisoners were muarched from Death Valley to Pyoktong prison camp in North Korea. He remained there under the same physical conditions When captured, Parker weighed 210 pounds; he now weighed 11% He stayed here until August 1952, when he was placed in solitary with eleven other ser geants. Keeping alive was tough and food was the main link between life and death. It so happened that the prison was in the middle of North Korean farmland. Chick ens walked freely outside the barbed wire fence. And the men kept themselves fed by stealing chickens. Every morning a Communist sol dier would come into the hut and ask how many men were alive he would know how many bowls of maize to bring the pris oners. The men who did die dur ing the night were propped up against the wall so as to look as if they were alive. This way the men would split the extra bowls of maize that were intended for the dead men. For stealing chickens and hav ing a belligerent attitude, Parker was put in jail. Seven days later, a Chinese Communist general told Parker and a handful of men that he had the wrong atti tude and would be going to a different camp because of it. Parker and some others were marched out to a small billet on a mountainside. Here they stayed for nine months, with their only rations being frozen potatoes. This is where Parker contracted night blindness. In May, 1953, with the begin ning of Korean peace talks, the men were released from __ this solitary confinement under a new policy of so-called lenient treat ment of prisoners. They were re moved to an American officer compound where they remained until moved to Kasan, Korea, in August, 1953. So Parker, a man who was giv en up for dead on the battlefield in November, 1950, was able to come back thirty-four months lat er to begin a new life with his wife, Edi, who never once falter ed in her faith for his return, and his five-year-old daughter, Trudy. Master Sergeant Parker was re leased and repatriated along with other prisoners on September 2, 1953, in “Operation Big Switch.” Mrs. Parker, upon receiving tele phone calls from people all over the United States telling her that her husband’s name was __ read over the air late in 1952 when the names of prisoners were re leased, threw her head back and forced a smile. Then she said, “He'll be home, I know!” One month later, after crossing the Pacific on a hospital ship where Parker was treated for his wounds, he was home. Then after a convalescent leave he was as signed to his present job as town patrol supervisor of the El Paso Military Police station on Paisa no drive. Parker, who now resides with his family at 9128 Hope avenue in Victory park, served two and a half years in the Navy during WWII in the South Pacific. He came in the army in 1946 and in 1947 was sent to Italy where he met his wife. They were married in 1948 at Ubine, Italy, after hav ing to get Pope’s permission to marry because Parker is Protest ant and his wife Catholic. After serving in Germany al so, Parker was then stationed at Fort Dix, N. J., before being as signed to the 2nd Infantry divi sion. His decorations include, the Silver star, Bronze star with valor and the Purple Heart. Your fellow Americans salute you, M/Sgt. Emmett Parker, for your bravery and_=allegiance— and you Mrs. Parker for your un dying faith and hope.
Newspaper Details
Tahoka Lynn County News
Tahoka, Texas, US
Fri, Oct 07, 1955
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 19 Feb 2026
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