Wilbur Parker was born on 3 April 1915 in a tent on Cache Creek near Cache, OK, the son of Baldwin and Mary Parker. His father, Baldwin Parker Sr., was one of twenty-one children of Chief Quanah Parker. Wilbur's early years were spent living and working on the Bruce and Grace Tomah farm in Walters, OK. He attended Fort Sill Indian School and Haskell Institute (high school) in Lawrence, KS. After graduation, he was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and served in several administrative positions.

On 14 April 1944 he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After stateside training as a Rifleman, he arrived at Southampton, England, on 21 December 1944 and was immediately transported to Aachen, Germany, as a member of Company A, 424th Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division.

Private Parker fought in the Battle of the Bulge, which began on 16 December 1944 and lasted until 25 January 1945. It was the costliest battle in U.S. military history; 89,500 American forces were killed, wounded, captured or missing in action. Parker was appointed as an acting Corporal and, shortly thereafter, as an acting Staff Sergeant due to the large number of casualties, especially those in leadership positions.

On 10 January 1945, in the Ardennes Forest near Stavelot, Belgium, Parker received a “Gunshot wound to the head with laceration of scalp and cerebral concussion with psychoneurotic manifestations also causing defective hearing.”

Private Parker was in hospitals in England until 5 May 1945 when he was shipped back the United States for further treatment and recovery for his wounds. He was discharged on 11 August 1945 at Brooke Convalescent Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, TX.

Medals, Awards & Badges

Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart
Good Conduct Medal
American Theater Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 2 Service Stars
World War II Victory Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge

He also was awarded the Honorable Discharge Lapel Button.

Post-Military Life

After leaving the military, Parker began working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He retired from the BIA after 42 years of federal service in 1978. His BIA assignments included Fort Sill Indian School; the Hopi Reservation in AZ; the Jicarilla Apache in NM; and the Mescalero Apache Reservation in NM.

Family

Parker met Esther Riddles in 1939 when he was on the selection committee appointing the Nation’s first princess. Interestingly, Esther Riddles not only became the first recognized Princess of the Comanche Nation, she also became his wife and the future mother of their 6 children; Bruce, James, Steven and Jeffrey and the late Gwendolyn Faye and Jeanine. Wilbur and Esther retired in Tularosa, NM, where Mrs. Parker continues to live.

Wilbur's brother, Simmons Parker, was 1 of the 17 Code Talkers during World War II. His wife was the sister of Code Talker Robert Holder.

Death and Burial

Wilbur Parker died at age 89 on 17 November 2004 at William Beaumont Medical Center at Fort Bliss, TX. He is buried at the Cache Kiowa Comanche Apache Intertribal Cemetery in Comanche County, OK.