Fox Company
On This Day 78 Years Ago: PVT Emmert Parmley is wounded
Nov
Emmert Orville “Jess” Parmley was born in Butterfield, Barry County, Missouri, on June 18, 1923. Butterfield was a small town of about 250 inhabitants. His parents were Emmert Sr. and Violet Parmley, and Emmert Jr. was the second of four children.
Featured image: PVT Emmert Orval “Jess” Parmley, a 101st Screaming Eagle of F/502 (Courtesy of the Nicholas J. Neises Family).
Becoming a paratrooper and a 101st Screaming Eagle
Parmley:
“When I graduated from Jump School on May 23, 1942, I joined Fox Company. Those in my jump class I remember were Mike Milinczenko, Andrew New, Edward J. Emert, Wilson L. Lee, Willie J. Lewis, John W. Sissel, and James E. Kennedy. I joined Fox Company at ‘The Frying Pan’ [of Fort Benning in Georgia] on May 25, 1942.”
Parmley and the seven other men mentioned by him all joined the ranks of Fox Company, 502nd PIR, during the initial period of the Deuce at Benning.
PVT Emmert Parmley’s calamity
On November 12, 1944, 78 years ago to this day, Fox Company went back to their familiar frontline positions at Hien, the Netherlands, arriving at the OPLR [Outpost Line of Resistance] around 1000 hours. PVT Emmert Parmley ran out of luck that day, and this is how he recalled, and described, his unfortunate mistake.
“My last day in Holland was November 12, 1944, a misty, damp day. We were still on the Island, at a different location, staying in a farmhouse. We had the same machine gun-crew – the six of us. The gun was outside, next to some small buildings. We were on duty two hours, off duty four hours. It was in the afternoon. We had just finished eating. It was ‘Slick’ Saunders’ and my turn on the gun. The gun was on a wooden door which was about four feet by eight feet. There was also an Army raincoat thrown over it on account of the drizzle. I said to Slick, ‘We have to move this gun off this wooden door onto the ground. If we fire this gun, it will bounce right off this door.’ I picked the gun up, raincoat and all – it started firing. There was a shell in the chamber. One of the bullets went through my left index finger which was removed in England. That was my last day in Holland.”
A blessing in disguise?
Although he lost a finger, PVT Parmley may not have been that unfortunate. His treatment and recovery would take a couple of months and he would return to duty when Fox Company was on the line at Alsace, in February 1945. It meant he missed the Battle of the Bulge, a very bloody combat period for the 101st Screaming Eagles of F/502.
This is a short story about one of Fox Company’s paratroopers, PVT Emmert Parmley, as described in the book: From the Frying Pan to Mittersill, Fox Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (1942 – 1945). If you are interested in learning more about PVT Emmert Parmley and other brave Fox Company paratroopers, order your copy now!
