Ellison W. Parfitt |
![Image of Ellison W. Parfitt](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081014064855im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/service/04654/ph0001001i.jpg)
Ellison W. "Bill" Parfitt | World War II, 1939-1946
Army
E Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
United States; England; France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany
Private First Class
Elmira, NY
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081014064855im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/afc2001001/vhp-stories/web/images/ex-war-card-bottom.gif) |
Affectionately known as Big Foot for his size 15 shoes, Ellison Parfitt was a modest infantryman. "Any stupid S.O.B. can carry a rifle," he notes, "and I'm one of them." But on June 6, 1944, he was wading ashore at Normandy with his commanding officer, General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. The two men developed a close friendship, cut short when Roosevelt died suddenly of a heart attack a month after D-Day. Parfitt was well aware of his own role in history, recording on a discarded parachute all the places he would visit in Europe, including the newly liberated Paris.
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