Parkhurst, John Wilder

Son of Richard Parkhurst (1894-1991), a government official, and Kathrine Foster Ryder (1895-1982), John Wilder Parkhurst was born in 1925. He grew up in Winchester and attended the Vermont Academy, class of '43. John Wilder died in Calcutta, India, on July 3, 1945.

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JOHN W. PARKHURST, of Winchester, Massachusetts, on July 3rd, died in India. John entered the hospital on June 20th, suffering from malaria, and later developed enteric fever. He was making satisfactory progress when pneumonia set in, and although every care and attention was given him, he could not pull through. John had served during the Burma Campaign and his courage and fine spirit were an inspiration to the men with whom he worked.

__ AFS Letters Nr. 39

 

Throughout the operations immediately concerned with the capture and mopping-up of Mandalay proper, "the AFS drivers, particularly the jeep drivers, did extremely well," Lt. Gilliam reported. "Medical, infantry, and staff officers have all made comments on the sensible and dependable work our fellows did under the most adverse conditions. Albert, Mathewson, McCollester, Morrill, Murphy, J. Parkhurst, Peterson, and Ries have all been particularly commended to me by various officers. As a whole, the Platoon did very well."

Other experiences show how the Burma campaign differed from others, in regard to both the manner of fighting and the energetic defense against the enemy. "Johnny Parkhurst has been sniped at numerous times in the advance to mop up the remaining Japs on the other side of the river," Captain Gilbert wrote of the two men attached to the 4/5 Gurkha Rifles (114 Brigade).

As if to underline the general depression, during this period occurred the deaths of John Wilder Parkhurst and Gerald Riley Murphy---both first-rate men whose tragic loss was deeply felt. Parkhurst entered a hospital in Calcutta with a bad case of malaria on 20 June, the day on which Murphy was killed in an automobile accident in Rangoon. [...] The loss of J. W. Parkhurst was equally distressing. Run-down after months of strenuous front-line work, he developed enteric fever after a few days in hospital, and then pneumonia set in. For some days, according to his MO, only his will-power kept him alive. Then, on 3 July, he died of the multiplicity of ailments that had beset him.

__ George Rock. Chapter 17. "Victory 4. India-Burma (November 1944-1945)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.