Sgt. James W. Parsons

Our Hometown Heroes

James W. Parsons

Member of Army’s Elite Airborne Engineers

James W. Parsons connection to Griffin was minor, but service to his country through the US Army Airborne Engineers was not.

The Army Airborne Engineers Corps dates back to the Civil War. The primary mission of the unit is to provide various supportive duties to other Army units, including construction, engineering, and mechanical work on Army projects. During World War II, the unit saw action in Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland (Germany), Ardennes-Alsace (German border during the Battle of the Bulge) and Central Europe.

Sgt. Parsons was born on March 8, 1916 in North Carolina. He grew up in the area of Clay County and Hiawassee, Georgia. The 1920 Census shows that the young three-year-old boy lived with his father, Joseph, his grandmother and grandfather, an aunt and uncle, two sisters and three brothers. The family lists farming as their occupation. Parson’s mother is not recorded in the census.

The young man joined the Army on May 11, 1942. He would soon become a Sergeant in the US Army’s elite 139th Airborne Engineering Battalion.

In a short article appearing in the Griffin Daily News, it was recorded that “Sgt. James W. Parsons, died of wounds he received in action in Germany.” His father, who worked with the IRS, was living in Griffin at the time. The 1940 Census shows he was a “boarder (rented a room)” at a home at 231 12th Street. Sgt. Parsons had died on April 12, 1945. This was less than a month before VE (Victory in Europe) Day.

Including his father, survivors included his three brothers, Vean, John and Paul, all of whom were serving our country in the military; as well as his two sisters, Mrs. L.L. Masen and Mrs. Ruby Jenkins. The family was spread out all around the world.

Sgt. Parson’s father, Joseph, requested a burial headstone on January 18, 1950. Sgt. James W. Parsons is buried in the Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery in Hayesville, North Carolina.