BM1c Harry Edward Parkes

Harry Edward Parkes was born Sept. 27, 1911 in Montana.

He enlisted in the Navy on Dec. 9, 1938 in California, though that is likely the date of a  re-enlistment. The 1940 Census says that on April 1, 1935 he was in the Navy in China. 

Mr. Parkes married Lillian Rose Bertolini, an immigrant from Italy, in July 1939 in San Francisco. Since at least 1930 her family had lived in Calpine, California 35 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe.

In 1939 Mr. Parkes earned $900 for 52 weeks of work according to the 1940 Census records as supplied by his wife. That would be the equivalent of more than $19,100 in 2022 dollars.

Mr. Parkes was a boatswain’s mate and petty officer first class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

He was survived by his widow, who lived at their home in Long Beach, California in April 1940, but in Navy casualty listings dating to early 1942 lived in San Francisco. Long Beach was a popular locale for Navy families because it was next to the battleship’s mainland home port at San Pedro, but San Francisco may have offered other attractions.

Sources: Veterans Administration; Navy muster roll. Navy photo.