James Curtis Parker was born in Bethune, South Carolina, the son of James Curtis Parker Sr. and Floride Propst. He had a younger sister Floride S. Parker and a brother, Wyatt Mortimer Parker. He attended Knoxville High School.
He was officially declared dead by the U.S. government on January 16, 1946 and is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines
The Knoxville Journal, March 25, 1944
Lt (jg) J.C. (Jake) Parker, Jr., former Univeristy of Tennessee student, is missing in action, the Navy Department informed his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Curtis Parker Sr., 2815 McCalla Avenue, last night. Lt. Parker, a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa while at U-T, has been in service since February, 1942, and has been in the Pacific area for 16 months. He is missing in plane flight while in the performance of duty, the Navy Department said.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, 17 February 1946
Lt. (jg) James Curtis Parker, son of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Parker, 2815 McCalla Avenue, who was reported missing in the spring of 1944, has now been officially declared dead by the Navy Department. Lt. parker was a former U-T student and had been in the Pacific area for 16 months. At the time he was missing the parents said that he had completed his 50th mission and was expecting to come home soon. He was a bomber pilot. He volunteered for the Navy Air Corps in 1942, while he was a senior at U-T, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. Before entering service and while at U-T he was employed in the TVA personnel department.
- Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
- Date of birth: 17 February 1919
- Date of death: 16 January 1946
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Navy
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIV, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor James C. Parker
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