Our D-Day Fallen: Sergeant Earl L. Parker

As we move toward the holiday season, we take time to remember all our servicemen and women around the world.  At the National D-Day Memorial, we have a special holiday time season program to honor all those who never made it home. We remember all the sacrifices our servicemen and women make everyday, and the sacrifices made by their families. Join us for our special nighttime presentation from December 12-14, 2014 entitled Flames of Memory, where4,413 luminaries around the site are lit in memory of the Allied forces who were killed in action on June 6, 1944 - men like that of Bedford Boy Sergeant Earl Parker.

Growing up on a 300-acre beef farm, Earl Parker began working at the Piedmont Label Company, which printed labels for canned foods, after graduating from Bedford High School. He was one of three brothers – all of whom would experience combat during the war.  Younger brother Billy recalled that Earl enjoyed playing baseball and hunting.

In 1939, twenty-six-year-old Parker was a private first class in Company A.  Parker was a lighthearted young man who was madly in love with nineteen-year-old Viola Shrader, one of the prettiest and most popular girls in all of Bedford. The two were married in 1940 and shortly after Earl left their daughter, Danny, was born.

Like other wives, Viola did what she could to remain positive while her husband was away.  To his end, Parker did everything he could to get back home to visit his bride.  Anytime he would have leave, he would try to carpool with anyone headed home. Viola wrote to her husband all the time.  She tried to stress the positives, even though life without Earl was getting tougher every day.

Like many women, Viola moved back to her parents’ home with her baby. By day, she worked on her family farm and at night, she slept in her childhood room and fell asleep listening to the nightly radio news shows.

At the beginning of the invasion, the Javelin moved out in to the Channel and Roy and Ray Stevens stood at the rail with Earl Parker. Parker took the photo of his daughter Danny out of his pocket and said, “If I could see her just once, I wouldn't mind dying.”

In mid-July, Viola received one of the first Western Union telegrams to be delivered of the Company A fatalities from June 6, 1944. It confirmed her worst fears, Earl was missing in action. She recalled, “You’re so hit that you don’t cry, you don’t do anything. I thought, ‘Well I better dust.’…I dusted the whole house.”  Afterwards, Viola took Danny in her arms, left the house, and walked towards the Peaks of Otter—the same place where she and Earl had courted.  There she wondered what she was going to do now that her love was gone, but she also told Danny “we’re going to make it.”

After the war and the men returned home, Viola went on search for answers.  Eventually, she visited Ray Nance telling him to tell her what happened because she did not believe he was dead.  Nance told her that Parker had been hit by a mortar shell and his body had been washed out to the English Channel, never to be recovered. She was comforted in knowing that Earl had died instantly without pain. The one thing that Viola had was her daughter, the greatest of parting gifts. Viola said, “She was an inspiration to go out and do something instead of sitting around crying all day.”

In 1954, Danny, eleven-years-old, unveiled a tribute to the Bedford Boys that sits at the old Bedford High School, today’s middle school. She knew the story of her local National Guard Company and knew that her daddy was a part of the largest amphibious invasion to take place in history, the invasion that allowed the Allies to start moving across Europe to end the war in May 1945. 

**If you would like to learn more about Flames of Memory or make a donation to honor/remember a serviceman or woman, please click here. Help us ensure everyone is remembered this holiday season. 

Until next time, 

Felicia

Vote for Ssgt. John Schenk's Bible!

Hello everyone, 

I apologize for the lack of radio traffic over the last few weeks.  However, I have something really exciting to announce to you.  Beginning on Monday, August 4th you can vote for Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifact--where you may notice a familiar story: John Schenk and his Bible.  Click here to vote!!

Read more about the John's Bible and the importance of conservation below! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Bible Belonging to Bedford Boy Nominated as Top 10 Endangered Artifact

Front interior of Bible

The National D-Day Memorial has nominated the Bible belonging to Bedford Boy John Schenk to the Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifact competition.  This Bible was gifted to John by his step-mother, Rose Lewis Schenk, prior to the D-Day invasion. Assigned to the 29th Division, 116th Regiment, Company A, Ssgt. John Schenk landed in the first wave of the assault on Omaha Beach at 0630 with 34 young soldiers from Bedford, Virginia.  In his pocket, he carried this Bible—a physical connection to his family an ocean away—when he became part of the largest amphibious invasion in history along the Normandy coastline on June 6, 1944.

Tin cover on Bible

It is imperative to conserve artifacts such as Schenk’s Bible, according to Felicia Lowrance, Education Coordinator for the National D-Day Memorial.  “Historical pieces such as this create tangible connections to our shared past.  This Bible represents millions of family members and friends who would inevitably cheer the news of the successful invasion or grieve at the loss of loved one.”

Ivylyn Schenk had no idea her husband, John, lay buried on the beaches of Normandy when she composed her daily letter on June 25, 1944. She wrote “John, my darling. Well, it has been twenty-two months since we were married. It has seemed very long, and yet, unbelievably short in duration… the only constant thing about it is that I continue to love and appreciate you more and more each day.” At the time of this writing, her beloved husband was one of more than 4,000 Allied soldiers who had sacrificed their lives on D-Day to secure freedom for generations beyond their own.

Back of Bible

The Foundation is delighted to be selected for this preservation initiative conducted by the Virginia Association of Museums. Schenk’s Bible is currently housed in a climate-controlled environment to help protect from further deterioration.  “We are concerned with the conservation of this piece and ensuring that it is preserved to tell the story of the Bedford Boys and D-Day for future generations,” Lowrance said.

The Virginia Top 10 Endangered Artifact competition highlights unique artifacts throughout Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area.  Voting for artifacts will begin on August 4.  

Back interior of Bible

Until next time

~~Felicia 

Our D-Day Fallen: Pvt. Bedford and Sgt. Raymond Hoback

Bedford and Raymond Hoback were one of 33 sets of brothers fighting together on the beaches during D-Day, June 6, 1944.  Of the 33 sets of brothers, three sets were from Bedford (the Stevens twins and the Powers brothers were also from Bedford) and part of Company A, 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division.  The story of the Hoback brothers was one of the first I heard that put a “face” to the history.  I was in the education tent with about 60 students from a North Carolina high school who were working on a special project about Bedford and D-Day.  I had only been at the Memorial for a few months at that point and this was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Lucille Hoback Boggess, sister of Bedford and Raymond, and hear their personal story.  You could have heard a pin drop as everyone hung on to what Mrs. Boggess had to say about her brothers, and all were keen on seeing some of the personal belongings she had brought to share with the group.    

It is their story that I tell to the children when they come to visit the Memorial for a field trip; their story that I share when talking to guests about the ultimate sacrifice paid by over 4,000 men on D-Day.  

It is their story that I want to share with you today through the words of Mrs. Boggess. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Lucille Boggess

My two brothers, Bedford and Raymond, both joined the National Guard, but the attraction was not financial.  The thing that drew them – drew Bedford anyway – was the idea of service.  He believed in it.  I should tell you that when Bedford joined the National Guard he was no boy.  He found military service to be something he wanted to do – not full time, of course, but once every few days it felt pretty good.  I think he liked the order the military represented, its discipline, teamwork, and fellowship.  Raymond’s motivation may not have been quite so well informed, but I must tell you that he too, was a man.  Although four years younger than Bedford, he was not kid, but he did have a kid brother’s admiration of his older brother, and that is probably why he came to the Guard.  And I think he liked to dress up in his uniform – liked to look and feel like a soldier. 

Raymond received a Bible from my mother as a Christmas gift when he was eighteen.  Receiving your own Bible was to undergo a rite of passage, and we took it seriously.  Raymond certainly did, and he kept his Bible close at hand.  I know he took it with him when the Bedford company mobilized in 1941.  Before the mobilization, the company would go off to this or that army camp to train for a week or two.  When they came back at the end of maneuvers, everybody would turn up to welcome them home.  One of my strongest memories is of the joy in the faces of those boys as they climbed off the trucks, because they knew their lives could get back to normal.  Once the company mobilized, though, the boys did not come back except as individuals whenever they could manage a pass or furlough.  Their joy on coming home was real enough, but the army was a greater reality.  After Pearl Harbor, so was the war.  

In June of 1944, I had just finished my freshman year, I was looking forward to spending large chunks of the summer at Bedford County Lake, and I was a long way from the frontlines.  A few days into the month, though, we learned that our boys overseas were on them.  We did not know who was where or how anyone was, but our faith was strong and our hopes remained high.  

Bedford's Headstone

In the weeks following D-Day, we heard reports of fierce fighting as the Allies moved deeper into France.  What we did not hear was any news about the Bedford company, or from Bedford and Raymond.  We were concerned, and as the days passed, our concern became fear, and fear, finally, a nightmare.  One Sunday in mid-July (July 15, 1944) everyone was getting dressed to go across the road to church.  An unexpected knock came through the door, and my father opened it to the sheriff.  Looking pained and mumbling a few words to Dad, the sheriff handed him a piece of paper – a telegram. “The War Department regrets to inform you,” it began, “that your son, Pvt. Bedford Turner Hoback has been killed in action.”  The news that everyone in town had been expecting, had been dreading, was finally here.  It was here – in our house. Our house.  We were stunned.  Scarcely comprehending the loss but painfully aware of my parents’ grief, I watched my mother’s tears begin, and my own followed. 

Raymond's MIA telegram

When the company left town in 1941, more than a hundred boys left with it, but by June 1944, as a function of reassignments and such, only 35 of them remained in the company, which had been brought up to strength with soldiers from all over the country.  Bedford had been one of the 35.  Throughout the rest of that Sunday, telegrams were delivered all around town, and family after family struggled to absorb that blow.  The next day, in our childish way, my sister Rachel and I thought we might cheer our folks up by making them some ice cream.  We were over the freezer cranking away when there was another knock – another telegram.  “The War Department regrets,” the too-familiar preamble read, “to inform you that your son, Staff Sgt. Raymond Samuel Hoback is missing in action.”  Mom and Dad were overcome with grief and I along with them.  To this moment I can remember nothing else that happened that day.  Time simply stopped.  

"Sacrifice" depicted at the Memorial with a Bible by his head

Raymond was never found. Several of his company mates subsequently reported seeing him lying on the beach near water’s edge, whether wounded or dead they did not know.  What is clear is that he, along with dozens others like him, was taken by the tide into the sea.  A word now about Providence, which manifested itself in the form of a package that arrived at our house a few days later.  It was a book sent by a soldier from W. Virginia, who had landed a day after Raymond had gone ashore.  “While walking on the beach on D-Day plus one,” he wrote, “…I came upon this Bible, and as most any person would do I picked it up from the sands to keep it from being destroyed.”  It was the Bible she had given Raymond for Christmas in 1938.  It was her only tangible connection to her missing son.  She treasured it for the rest of her life, as I treasure it today.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Homage

We work hard every day at the National D-Day Memorial to keep the story of D-Day alive.  Bedford, VA suffered the highest per capita loss of any town in the USA, losing nineteen young men in the early morning hours of the invasion.  On June 6, 2014 during the 70th Anniversary of the Invasion we are hoping to dedicate a new statue, Homage, to the memory and honor of the Bedford Boys.  For more information, or to contribute to Homage, please visit our website.  Help us bring their story to life; help us bring their story home. 

~Felicia