PFC Kenneth R. Parquette
1924 – 1978
USMC
WWII
Kenneth Russell Parquette was born April 3, 1924 in Breedsville, Michigan, to Samuel and Ethel Maude Abbott Parquette.
He was orphaned by age 4, and was raised in Carmelite Orphanage, Hammond, Indiana, until he was 16.
Parquette enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps for service in WWII on 13 Dec 1941, and served in World War II through January 1945 in California and the Pacific Theater. With the 2nd Marine Division, he was wounded in action during the Solomon Islands campaign in January, 1943. He later trained with the 5th Marine Division in California and Hawaii, but was honorably discharged as a Private First Class before the Iwo Jima battles in 1945 (where the 5th Division had the highest casualty rate among the three divisions there).
In June, 1944, Parquette married Lillian Lawrence in Hammond, Indiana: they had 3 children before divorcing in the late 1950’s. His second wife was named Mary Anna.
He was employed in the food distribution business, ultimately, as a technical consultant for International Multi Foods Corporation (IMC).
PFC Kenneth Parquette died May 11, 1978 in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington, Illinois, where his daughter lived at the time of his death.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.