Theodore W. Parker

Infobox Military Person
name=Theodore W. Parker
born= 1909
died= death year and age|1994|1909
placeofburial=


caption=General Theodore W. Parker
nickname=
placeofbirth=Minneapolis, Minnesota
placeofdeath=Tucson, Arizona
allegiance=flagicon|United States United States of America
branch= United States Army
serviceyears=1931-1969
rank= General
unit=
commands=1st Infantry Division
battles=World War II Korean War
awards=Legion of Merit (2) Bronze Star Air Medal
relations=
laterwork=Commissioner, New York State Department of Transportation

Theodore William Parker was a United States Army four star general who served as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (COFS SHAPE) from 1963 to 1969

Military career

Parker was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 31, 1909, and graduated from North High School there in 1925. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1931, and was commissioned in Field Artillery. He married Nina Mae Hill of Minneapolis on July 20, 1935 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

During World War II, Parker went to Iceland with the first Army contingent to go overseas, and spent two years there. He returned to the U.S. to train an artillery battalion, then served as G-3 Operations Officer on the Ninth United States Army throughout its campaigns in the European Theater of Operations. After the war he wrote the book "Conquer, The Official History of the Ninth Army in World War II".

He spent from 1949 to 1950 as Assistant Secretary of the Army, General Staff, and 1950 to 1952 as Chief of Staff of the Tenth Infantry Division (Training) at Fort Riley, Kansas. During the Korean War, he commanded both a division and corps artillery, and later an anti-aircraft artillery brigade and region in the United States. From 1960 to 1961 he commanded the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley.

His service in the politico-military field includes three years on the War Department General Staff, a year in the Executive Office of the President, and more than three years in Paris with the North Atlantic Council, the major part of it as the Standing Group's Representative to the Council. In 1961, he returned to Washington to serve as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a year, and then as Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations of the Army from May 1962 to June 1963. On July 1, 1963, he was promoted to full General and became Chief of Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).

Parker was a graduate of the battery and advanced officer's courses at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, and the National War College. Form 1935 to 1939, he served as an instructor at West Point in the Department of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.

Awards and decorations

General Parker's awards and decorations include:

*

* (with oak leaf cluster in lieu of second award)

*

*

"Foreign Awards"

*Order of the British Empire

*Ulchi Distinguished Service Medal with Gold Star.

Post military

After retiring from the Army in 1969, Parker became Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation from 1969 to 1972. He died on May 27, 1994 in Tucson, Arizona.

ee also

References