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View a eulogy for Arthur Middleton Parker, USMA '66, who passed away on May 29, 1968.

Arthur Middleton Parker

West Point, 1966

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Mike Trollinger on May 31, 2002:

Art was my Squad Leader at the end of my Plebe Year at West Point. He and David Crocker were roommates in the 29th Division of Old North barracks, next to the gym and the Supe's house at West Point. Now both of them are gone, killed in a jungle war so many years ago.

Art was a gifted squash player. Actually, he was a pretty good all-around athlete, but I remember Art because he taught me how to play squash as a plebe. I was on the Intramural Squash Team for Company B-4. Growing up in Texas, I had never even seen squash being played before I went to West Point, but I had played some tennis, so Art chose me to be on his squash team that he captained. Throughout the years at the Academy, I continued to play intramural squash and was on the brigade champion squash team one of those years at USMA.

Art was a very quiet cadet (as was David Crocker) and never seemed to be caught up in the power game that some upperclassmen played with us plebes. He made you adhere to the system, but didn't seem to get much pleasure in making plebes "jump through hoops." He was the kind of quiet, handsome, conscientious cadet that seemed to breeze through the Academy with little trouble.

Art died in Vietnam one week before I graduated from West Point. Of course with June Week going on and all the activities surrounding graduation, I don't remember learning of his death until after we graduated. As one of those whose lives Art touched as we shared space on Earth, I will miss him until my time comes to meet him again.

Well done, Art, be thou at peace!

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