Floyd Parks (DD 884) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE NAME FLOYD B. PARKS USS FLOYD B. PARKS is named in honor of Major Floyd Bruce Parks, USMC, a Marine Aviator reported missing in action on 4 I une 1942, in defense of Midway Island against the assaults of the Japanese Navy. Major Parks, born in Salisbury Missouri, was enlisted in the Navy for two years prior to his appointment to the United States Naval Academy in I une 1930. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps on 31 May 1934 and was promoted to Major less than a month be- fore the action at Midway. MAJ OR PARKS was awarded the Navy Cross, Special Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy, the Purple Heart, President- ial Unit Citation, American Defense Service Medal and Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal.

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in. U.S.S. FLOYD B. PARKS lDD 884i SHIP' HI ToRY The FLOYD B. PARKS is a Gearing class Destroyer, built by the Consolidated Steel Corporation, at Orange, Texas, on the banks of the Sabine River. Mrs. Floyd B. Parks, the widow of the late Major, sponsored the ship at launching on March 31, 1945. After Commissioning and shakedown cruise, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and proceeded to San Diego, California, which has been her home port throughout her 22 years of service. Although built too late to take part in World War H, PARKS participated in extensive action during the Korean Conflict as a unit of Task Force 77. pHere, her assignment was to screen carriers against enemy action and to suppOrf anti-Communist air operations off the east coast of North Korea. During this time FLOYD B. PARKS participated in one of the longest sieges in U. S. Naval History, over sixty days in the enemy harbor of Wonsan, firing over twelve thousand rounds of ammunition at the enemy installations. ln 1955, FLOYD B. PARKS was on duty in the Western Pacific during the outbreak of hostilities in the Tachen Island area. She was one of four destroyers present which assisted the Nationalist Chinese in the evacuation of this troubled area. The Laotian Crisis of 1959 found PARKS on the spot and ready with a show of force. In addition to this action, the ship also participated in one of the early experimental cold weather exercises, Microwex, in the Bering Sea and has been an active participant in the Eniwetok-Bikini Atomic Testing Operations. PARKS has made sixteen WESTPAC cruises including two cruises to the Tonkin Gulf, South China Sea area in support of U. S. Forces in Viet Nam.

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-1 COMMANDI G OFFIC R X f QQMM1 X ff X WZ -AWK CDR G.M. Neely, Jr.