Floyd Bruce Parks

Major Floyd Parks was an experienced Marine Corps pilot who first earned his wings in 1936. He took command of VMF-221, a fighter squadron based at Midway Island, on 17 May 1942 and helped train the relatively green pilots in combat tactics. Much of Parks’ training was intended to offset the limitations of their outdated F2A-3 “Buffalo” fighters – only a few of the modern F4F “Wildcats” were available.

At 0600 hours on 4 June 1942, Parks led his squadron aloft to intercept a large group of Japanese fighters and bombers bearing down on Midway. The five pilots of his 1 Division attacked bravely, but their ageing Buffaloes were no match for the highly maneuverable “Zekes.” The entire division was shot out of the sky within minutes. Parks managed to bail out of his plane, but a vengeful Japanese pilot strafed the Marine as he descended in his parachute – and continued to shoot after Parks’ body landed on a nearby reef. Crash boats were unable to reach Major Parks, and his body was washed away.