Edwin Pearson Parker Jr. (July 27, 1891 – June 7, 1983) was a senior officer in the United States Army. Parker commanded the 78th Infantry Division during the Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland, and Central Europe, campaigns of World War II. Under his command, the division, nicknamed "Lightning," helped secure the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen.
Following the war, Parker commanded XXIII Corps during the occupation duties in Germany and completed his career as U.S. Army Provost Marshal General from 1948 to 1953.
Early career
Parker was born on July 27, 1891, in Wytheville, Virginia, as the son of Edwin Pearson Parker and Mary Lillington Hardin. He graduated from the old Western High School and subsequently attended George Washington University. Upon the graduation in summer 1912, he was commissioned in the Field Artillery Branch of the United States Army. Parker was stationed on the Mexican Border during the Pancho Villa Expedition and during World War I, he was stationed at the Panama Canal Zone and saw no service overseas.
Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, he was ordered to France and took part in the occupation of the Rhineland. Parker was later ordered back to the United States and served as an assistant professor of military science and tactics, first at Ohio State University, and then at Harvard University.
Parker was ordered to the Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in May 1923 and completed the Field Artillery Officers' Advance Course one year later. Upon the completion of the course, he was sent to the course at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and graduated in June 1925.
He published many articles about field artillery innovations in The Field Artillery Journal and gained a reputation as an artillery expert. Parker later served as an instructor at the Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and in mid-1933, he was appointed Training officer in the Office of the Chief of Field Artillery and served successively under Major General Harry G. Bishop and later Major General Upton Birnie Jr.
On August 1, 1935, Parker was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was ordered to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for duty as commanding officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, 83rd Field Artillery Regiment. After one year in this capacity, he was ordered to Washington, D.C., where he entered the instruction at U.S. Army War College, which he completed in June 1937.
World War II
On June 26, 1941, Parker was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel and appointed commandant of the Field Artillery Replacement Training Center at Fort Bragg. He was again promoted just a few months later, this time to the temporary rank of brigadier general on October 31, 1941, and was responsible for the training of artillery men until June 1942. By this time the United States had entered World War II. On June 21, 1942, Parker was subsequently promoted to the temporary rank of major general and, despite being an artilleryman, was ordered to Camp Butner, North Carolina, where he was tasked with the activation of the 78th Infantry Division. Aiding him during this period was his assistant division commander (ADC), Brigadier General William Kelly Harrison Jr. until early January 1943 when he was replaced by Brigadier General John K. Rice, who remained in this post for the rest of the war. On July 1, 1942, Parker's rank in the Regular Army was promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel.
Due to his previous experiences with training at the Field Artillery Training Center at Fort Bragg, Parker supervised the formation and received a special assignment from the War Department General Staff. Parker was responsible for the training and processing of combat replacements in the shortest possible time. Under his supervision, the 78th Division trained between 40,000 and 50,000 replacements, who were sent to war in both theaters and to stations all over the world.
In March 1943, Parker's division began with its own intensive combat training and he led his command during the maneuvers in South Carolina during November 1943 and Tennessee in January-February 1944. The 78th Division then conducted intensive training for several months and parts of the division participated in the restoring of order during the Philadelphia transit strike at the beginning of August 1944.