VALOR The Pinnacle of Professionalism Col. Ralph Parr's unique departing cargo aircraft opened fire, severely damaging Parr's F-4. combination of achieve- The fire from the twenty-two 14.5- ments spans three wars mm guns was described by the FAC and 8,000 hours of as "unbelievably intense." Nevertheless, Colonel Parr de- fighter time. cided to continue the strike until his BY JOHN L. FRISBEE ordnance was expended. With two CONTRIBUTING EDITOR napalm runs and four 20-mm can- non passes—all on the same re- MTHE Distinguished Service Cross stricted run-in—he destroyed five of and its successor, the Air Force the automatic weapons and silenced Cross, rank second to the Medal of the sixth. Honor as decorations for valor in Ralph Parr. who racked up a grand total Visibility had now become ex- combat. Only one man, Col. Ralph of 641 missions in three wars. tremely poor, and there still was S. Parr, has been awarded both heavy small-arms fire from enemy medals. tackers, giving Colonel Johnson time troops a few meters from the land- Ralph Parr's combat career began to restart his engine, and escorted ing strip. Judging that it was not safe as a P-38 pilot in the Pacific in the him back to base. for three aircraft to operate in those closing weeks of World War II. In In the interim between our "limit- conditions, Colonel Parr asked the 1950, while flying F-86s in the ed wars" in Asia, Ralph Parr's ca- slow-moving FAC "to back off a bit" States, he was picked to be one of reer continued to center on fighters. so he could call troop targets for the the first pilots sent to Korea to fly He was one of the first instructors in second F-4. After that, the route F-80s with the 49th Fighter Bomber F-4s and, in the fall of 1967, was was clear for C-130s departing the Wing. On that tour, Lieutenant Parr named Operations Officer of the Khe Sanh strip. flew 165 combat missions against 12th TFW in Vietnam. Before that Fingerprint 54 later reported that close-support and interdiction tar- tour ended, he had logged 226 com- he had never seen such aggressive- gets. bat missions, the most memorable ness and courage in the face of such After more than a year in the on March 16, 1968, when he was intense fire. The Marines whom States developing new air-to-air tac- awarded the Air Force Cross for ex- Colonel Parr had defended called tics for jet fighters, then-Captain traordinary valor during the siege of his bravery and skill "the pinnacle of Parr wangled a second tour in Khe Sanh. aerial professionalism." Korea, flying F-86s with the 4th On that day, Colonel Parr and his Two years later, Ralph Parr re- Fighter Interceptor Wing. In forty- backseater, Capt. Tom McManus, turned to Vietnam for a second tour, seven missions during a remarkable "a very gutty guy," were flying one this time as commander of the 12th seven weeks at the end of the war, he of two F-4s fragged to escort C- 130s TFW, flying 201 more combat sor- earned the Silver Star and the Dis- that were resupplying the Marines ties for a grand total of 641 missions tinguished Service Cross and at Khe Sanh. As they approached in three wars. That may well be an downed ten enemy aircraft, includ- the rendezvous point, a FAC, Fin- Air Force record to add to Colonel ing the last Communist plane shot gerprint 54, diverted the flight to Parr's array of some sixty US and down over Korea, an 11-12 transport attack two mortar positions within foreign decorations. apparently far off course. seventy meters of friendly forces. In 1976, Ralph Parr was retired Parr's DSC was awarded for a mis- Only napalm, which Colonel Parr for physical disability after suffer- sion on June 30, 1953. He and his carried, could be used, and there ing a serious back injury while in- wingman, Lt. Al Cox, were attacked was but one possible run-in head- specting hurricane damage to a roof by ten MiG-15s. Captain Parr shot ing, dictated by terrain, poor vis- at Eglin AFB, Fla. "You'd think," down two MiGs and was maneuver- ibility, and troop locations. he says, "I could have picked a ing for his third kill when a call for The second F-4 held at a higher more graceful way to depart the mil- help came from his wing commander, altitude while Colonel Parr de- itary." Col. James Johnson, whose F-86 had stroyed both mortar positions in It's not the leaving, but the doing flamed out after swallowing debris two runs, releasing at absolute mini- that counts. Colonel Parr may have from a MiG he had downed and who mum altitude. On the second run, hung up his blue suit, but his was under attack by several other six well-camouflaged heavy auto- achievements in five combat tours MiGs. Though low on fuel, Captain matic weapons—five of them quad remain a shining symbol in the an- Parr found his boss, drove off the at- mounts—that were sited to destroy nals of Air Force valor. • AIR FORCE Magazine / February 1987 109