Gerald Parker, a medic in the 505, was wounded on D-Day + 2 in the town of St. Mere Eglise. He was wounded at an aid
station in the town's primary school at about 5 PM on June 8 by German 88 shrapnel when a shell blew up on the wall next to the school. He and
another medic were carrying a wounded trooper on a litter from the town
square to the aid station in the school. The blast blew him down into the
basement. His wound was caused by a walnut sized piece of shrapnel that
reamed a whole from the back of his knee through the knee cap. He came to
rest in a sitting position at the bottom of the stairs in the basement.
Capt. (Dr.) Scarborough was already wounded an on a litter in the
basement. He looked over at Dad and said, "Parker, that's a million
dollar wound. You're going home!"
He was patched up and driven on a litter in the back of a jeep out to a
field outside of St. Mere Eglise where he lay until the afternoon of the
next day when he was trucked to the beach and taken out to a hospital
ship. His knee was put back together in Mobile where he stayed for 9
months and learned to be a draftsman. He later had a successful career as
a builder in Dallas and later Tyler, Texas.
At the time Parker was wounded, he had 43 dog tags in his pocket.
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