Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1951 Lucky Bag:

James Wheeler Parmelee

With an age waiver for previous Naval service the “old man” checked in at Navy . . . majored in keeping a few numbers ahead of the academic department . . . minored in escaping the pressure of the inflexible system … at ease in any situation . . . friends with the world . . . endless self-confidence and ability . . . attended University of Michigan and Navy Pre-Flight prior to Annapolis . . . would like to fly a brilliant red jet plane, and trout fish in off hours . . . insists Michigan is the playground of the gods and not a wilderness stalked by Indians . . . Battalion football and varsity swimming . . . found training chow well suited to his needs as a growing boy . . . likes to be casual . . . loafers with khakies. . . .

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He was also a member of the Hop Committee and the Christmas Card Committee.

Loss

James was piloting a F-80A with the 303rd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron when he crashed on August 26, 1954 in West Germany.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

James attended East Grand Rapids high school, and as a sophomore, he won the American Legion scholarship to Morgan Park. He graduated from Morgan Park Military Academy in Chicago in 1942. He enlisted in the navy and was a midshipman in the V-12 program at the University of Michigan. He later spent a term at the navy’s fleet preparatory school. His appointment to the Naval Academy came from Rep. Bartell J. Jonkman.

His father was Carl, and his brother David was a Lieutenant (j. g.)

From The Family Parmelee¹ in October 2002:

Fresh out of high school, Lt. James W. Parmelee deferred college to serve his country in World War II. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951, he became an Air Force pilot who conducted reconnaissance flights during the Cold War. A biographical clipping from an unknown publication [ed: the Lucky Bag above] describes James as “at ease in any situation … friends with the world … endless self-confidence and ability … would like to fly a brilliant-red jet plane, and trout fish in off hours … insists Michigan is the playground of the gods.” James was based at Sembach Air Base, about 80 miles southwest of Frankfurt, Germany, and flew one of two “jet photo” squadrons.

On a flight in 1954, his plane crashed in Obora (German: Thiergarten), near what was then the border of East Germany and Czechoslovakia. His family knows little about the mission; his military record states death from an “aircraft accident.” In January, brother David Parmelee established a scholarship in James’ honor to support engineering students at the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Contrary to the passage above, Thiergarten is in the former West Germany, near Luxembourg and France.

Earlier Crash

From researcher Kathy Franz:

James survived a crash on March 28, 1953, when his plane nose-dived into the Tug river on the Kentucky-West Virginia border. He was flying from Columbia, S.C., to Grand Rapids. At first, he was delirious when dragged from the river and kept calling for someone named “Ed.” When he became rational, he said he was alone in the plane.

Photographs

References