Kevin Spradlin
CUMBERLAND — A local woman’s 21-year quest to retrieve her father’s wartime medals will come to a close Monday.
Barbara Parsons of Cresaptown is expected to receive seven medals and ribbons earned by Korean War veteran Floyd Raymond “Whitey” Whiteman, including the Purple Heart, the Presidential Unit Citation, the World War II victory medal, the Korean Service Medal with one bronze service star and the Combat Infrantryman’s Badge. Those and others will be presented to Parsons by U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett at a ceremony at his Cumberland office beginning at 10 a.m.
Whiteman served as a U.S. Army corporal during World War II and was killed in action in the Republic of Korea on Sept. 16, 1950, less than three months after North Korea crossed the 38th parallel to begin its invasion of their countrymen.
“I never really got to know him,” said Parsons, who was only 7 years old when her father was killed. “I’ve got pictures, things like that. I’ve been trying to get duplicates of his medals.”
Bartlett said that he is “honored” to present the Parsons, and five other service members or their families, their deserved medals. Parsons said the honor is entirely hers.
The effort to find out which medals Whiteman was entitled to was harder than first thought. Parsons said a phone call to the National Personnel Records Center showed Whiteman’s file was burned in a catastrophic fire in 1973. Parsons learned after more phone calls, however, that the medals her father had earned “had never been presented.”
Parsons enlisted the help of her son, Mark Parsons, formerly of Allegany County who now resides in El Paso, Texas. Mark, 42, has been interested in genealogy since he was 16. The pursuit of his grandfather’s story was a natural one.
“One of the first stories (Mom) told me was (Whiteman) was killed but his body was never brought back,” Mark said.
This was 1987. Mark was in the Air Force stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. His investigation took him to the nearby U.S. Department of Mortuary Affairs.
“I thought, if there are any fragments of information, I can get it there,” Mark said.
Mark said he faced “government bureaucracy and red tape,” and was told that Mortuary Affairs had no record of his grandfather. Continued correspondence over the next two years yielded no progress.
Mark later transferred into Naval Intelligence right across the road at the Suitland Federal Center. There, he found his grandfather’s unit — Headquarters Company, 5th Calvary Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He also found copies of radio transmissions from his grandfather’s unit while he and his fellow soldiers were under attack.
“It was pretty intense,” Mark said.
Mark was motivated to again contact Mortuary Affairs. This time, there was good news.
“They said, ‘We found your grandfather’s file,’” Mark said. “I was ecstatic. They said it was misplaced.”
In the file Mark examined, there were original letters from his grandmother questioning what had happened to her late husband. Mark learned that when Whiteman’s body was recovered, he wore his ring and carried with him a Bible and pictures of family members. Whiteman’s body had been temporarily interred at a United Nations cemetery in South Korea and is now buried in Romney, W.Va.
Mark learned, and conveyed to his mother here in Allegany County, that her father was involved in “some of the fiercest fighting” in the early days of the three-year conflict. Whiteman was killed defending Hill 203 about eight air miles northwest of Taegu. The hill exchanged ownership several times between the North Koreans and Americans.
Barbara said her son won’t be able to witness the ceremony Monday but that’s OK with him.
“More importantly to me is just to have her receive them,” he said. “I would love to be there and see it. It would mean a lot to me to see it mean a lot to her.”
Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.
