Ralph Duncan Parker Jr. was born on November 17, 1921, in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas. He was the son of Ralph Duncan Parker and Lenora Belle Weaver Parker. He served in the 587th Bomb Squadron, 394th Bomber Group, Medium, as a Staff Sergeant and crew aboard B-26 Marauder #42-96249 during World War II.

On June 6, 1944, the B-26 Marauder #42-96249 was flying from Station No. 161, Boreham Airfield, Essex, on Mission #58 to bomb German gun emplacements at Varreville, France, in direct support of the Normandy invasion. While flying on instruments in poor weather over Battle, Sussex, amid thick clouds, low visibility, and reports of icing conditions, the aircraft inadvertently collided with another B-26 from the same group, the “Stinky” (#42-107592). The violent mid-air collision caused both planes to break apart and crash: #42-96049 went down at Ashburnham Place, while “Stinky” crashed nearby at Whatlington Level. All crew members aboard both aircraft were killed, except for the pilot of “Stinky,” who miraculously survived. Their quick actions to jettison bombs before impact likely prevented further disaster on the ground, sparing nearby villages from catastrophic damage.

SSgt Parker's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, weremember.abmc.gov