Page 76 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2023 - Online Magazine
P. 76
Pete Parra My Father, My Hero—Lt. Col.
P.S. “Pete” Parra, (USAF, Ret.)
by Mary Elizabeth Parra
picture is not there, just in a new, four-year college on the
his name and a black, South Plains landscape, Texas
faceless silhouette. He Technological College. Once on
could not afford the coat campus, he met the love of his
and tie needed for the life; they married, and together
photo. Reflecting on that they built a life for 72 years.
saddens my brother and As an ROTC student, Dad was
me. Education—and all the commissioned as an officer upon
opportunity it represents— graduation in 1950 and joined the
was a hallmark of our U.S. Air Force. He retired after 22
father’s legacy. Despite no years.
traditional photo of high
school graduation, Dad During those years as a typical
went on to college. military family, we lived and
traveled across the U.S. and five
However, going to college continents. We saw everything
was side-tracked by two from the majestic Himalayas to
things. First, Dad had the Eiffel tower to the shores of
to recover from being Tripoli. We were witnesses to the
struck by lightning. The abject poverty in the streets of
sheer force of this act of Panama and school-age children
"Pete" Parra was assigned to the 854th nature was enough to working in the back-alley
Engineer Aviation Battalion in the Pacific have killed him, but there factories of Peshawar for pennies
Theater during WWII.
was a master plan for his a day. Lack of educational
life that evolved once he opportunity was painfully
awoke from his coma. A obvious around the world then,
rowing up in the small, few months later and several and now.
rural town of Canadian,
GTexas during the Great pounds lighter, Dad, along with
two of his brothers, volunteered
Depression, my father’s family for service in WWII. After
did not have much in terms of serving three years in the U.S.
monetary wealth. But they had Army, assigned to an aviation
strong values rooted in faith, a engineering battalion in the
loving mother, and a father with Pacific Theater, Dad returned
a job at the Santa Fe Railroad, home to Texas. There was no
which provided a steady income hometown hero’s welcome for
and housing for a growing family him or any returning veterans.
of 11 children. My grandmother In a formal message of gratitude
cooked healthy meals when and appreciation sent to all
chicken, eggs, vegetables, and returning veterans, President
other fresh food sources were Truman wrote: “. . . we now
available. Dad enjoyed telling look to you for leadership and
my brother and me about the example in further exalting our
day when the train hit a roaming country in peace.”
bison—and his mother cooked
steak for dinner that night! Thanks to the passage of the "Pete" Parra (shown on the right) was
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act born in Canadian, TX and lived there
Looking at Dad’s 1941 Canadian of 1944 (“G.I. Bill”), Dad enrolled until he volunteered to serve in WWII.
High School yearbook, his senior
76 Lubbock Senior Link
