John Joseph Parle

He stopped a deadly boat fire before the invasion of Sicily.

John Joseph Parle studied at Creighton University in Omaha. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve as an apprentice seaman on January 11, 1942, and graduated from Creighton that year. Midshipman training at Notre Dame followed. Commissioned as an ensign on January 28, 1943, he trained with the Amphibious Force at Norfolk before joining the Northwest African Amphibious Force.

As a Naval Reserve ensign, he was responsible for small boats aboard USS LST 375 during the invasion of Sicily on July 9 and 10, 1943. When a smoke pot ignited in a boat carrying explosives and ammunition, he entered the smoke-filled craft, extinguished a burning fuse and threw the smoke pot overboard.

His actions prevented an explosion that could have harmed personnel and revealed the impending assault. He died on July 17 from inhaled smoke and fumes. Born in Omaha on May 26, 1920, Parle was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery there. His parents received his posthumous Medal of Honor in January 1944.

Medal of Honor citation

For valor and courage above and beyond the call of duty as officer-in- charge of small boats in the U.S.S. LST 375 during the amphibious assault on the island of Sicily, 9-10 July 1943. Realizing that a detonation of explosives would prematurely disclose to the enemy the assault about to be carried out, and with full knowledge of the peril involved, Ens. Parle unhesitatingly risked his life to extinguish a smoke pot accidentally ignited in a boat carrying charges of high explosives, detonating fuses and ammunition. Undaunted by fire and blinding smoke, he entered the craft, quickly snuffed out a burning fuse, and after failing in his desperate efforts to extinguish the fire pot, finally seized it with both hands and threw it over the side. Although he succumbed a week later from smoke and fumes inhaled, Ens. Parle's heroic self-sacrifice prevented grave damage to the ship and personnel and insured the security of a vital mission. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.