From Parris Island to the Pacific: The Service of Edward Leroy Parke in His Own Words

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From Parris Island to the Pacific: The Service of Edward Leroy Parke in His Own Words

A. M. Whitley

After leaving Guam on 28 July 1945, at 15 minutes past midnight on 30 July, the USS Indianapolis (CA35) was struck by torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Twelve minutes later, the ship rolled completely over and plunged down into the depths of the Pacific. Among the ships complement were 39 members of the Marine detachment, commanded by Captain Edward LeRoy Parke. Of those 39 Marines, only 9 of them survived. Since the sinking of the Indianapolis is a tragic chapter in U.S. Navy history, and there were so few Marines aboard, it is not a story that is generally told from the Marine Corps perspective. The letters of Edward LeRoy Parke, written to his father, offer a rich narrative of Parkes experiences as a Marine, culminating in his untimely death in the sinking of the Indianapolis 75 years ago. These letters were graciously donated to the Marine Corps History Division in 2015.