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Steven Loomis, IC3
to remember
Parker, Fess, Jr., S1c.
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Contact Info
Home Town Born: Fort Worth / Raised: San Angelo
Last Address Santa Ynez Valley Santa Barbara, CA
Date of Passing Mar 18, 2010
Location of Interment Santa Barbara Cemetery - Santa Barbara, California
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was born Aug. 16, 1924, in Fort Worth and grew up on farm near San Angelo, Texas. He was named after his father ("Fess" means "proud" in Old English). After graduating San Angelo High School he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II on board the USS Clay (APA-39) and participated in mopping-up operations in the Philippines aboard the USS YMS-334.
Parker's height prevented him from entering Navy flight school. Then he tried for aviation radio gunners school in the Navy. "They threw me out because I was too big. They said, "You'll never get inside the cockpit." But because he had gotten Morse code training, he was shipped off to the Marines in Oceanside, Calif., where he trained for beach landings carrying a 50-pound field radio. "We were all just a bunch of kids, Happy Jacks," he remembered. One day, command called the group together and split them into two groups. The other group went to Iwo Jima. "They lost 5,000 people just getting off the beach," he remembers. "I assume someone had said, "That guy's too big." I was fortunate all the way through."
They finally did ship Parker out. "I was in the middle of the Pacific when they dropped the bomb." He went on to the Philippines and crewed on a wooden mine-sweeper, YMS-334, charged with cleaning up after the Japanese from September 1945 to March 1946.
While in the service, Parker got his first taste of Hollywood.
"A lot of the actors would have shows for the servicemen in Hollywood," he says. "It was a chance for us to say hello to the people you'd see on the screen, and they offered to take us into a movie studio, to see how a picture was made. While I was there, I noticed just how nice it was - there was air conditioning, and there was this gorgeous young lady there. I thought to myself, "These are excellent working conditions."
Other Comments:
Discharged in 1946, he enrolled in the University of Texas on the GI Bill, but was stabbed in the chin by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. He required many months to recover, and was unable to participate in sports as he had wished.
Parker graduated from the University of Texas in 1950 with a degree in business administration and had been initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Having one year remaining on his GI Bill, he studied drama at the University of Southern California, working towards a master's degree in theater history.
After college, friends pointed Parker in the direction of a movie agent. By 1954 Walt Disney had inquired about the 6' 6" tall Texan and the part of Davy Crockett made Fess Parker a household name.
In the late 1960's Parker made several trips to Vietnam to visit with servicemen. Here is a comment he made on the subject:
In a lifetime of taking bows for Davy Crockett, Parker said the most meaningful moments were meeting adults who were influenced as children by his portrayal. "I met some of the Vietnam fellas who were five or six years old when Davy Crockett came along," he said. "I was so touched by the fact that these were the little kids with the coonskin caps caught up in that awful situation. One fella told me that he was pretty comfortable in the jungle at night. He said he learned that from watching Davy Crockett."
