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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • Service History Note: The veteran notes that he was the bodyguard for Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr.
  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: E Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
  • Location of Service: United States; England; France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany; European Theater
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class

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"I never could bring myself to go look if I hit them." (Interview)

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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About this Item

Title

  • Ellison W. Parfitt Collection

Names

  • Blue Star Mothers / Amber Waves of Grain
  • Wheeler, Justin
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Donna M. Kanabay
  • Parfitt, Ellison W.
  • Babcock, Robert

State of Birth

  • NY

Home State

  • NY

Headings

  • -  Parfitt, Ellison W.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Service History Note: The veteran notes that he was the bodyguard for Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr.
    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: E Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
    • Location of Service: United States; England; France; Belgium; Luxembourg; Germany; European Theater
    • Highest Rank: Private First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1942-1945
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 10/29/2002)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of video recording (collected 08/23/2014)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/4654

Cite as

  • Ellison W. Parfitt Collection (AFC/2001/001/4654), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Blue Star Mothers / Amber Waves Of Grain, Justin Wheeler, National Court Reporters Association, Donna M. Kanabay, Ellison W Parfitt, and Robert Babcock. Ellison W. Parfitt Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04654/.

APA citation style:

Blue Star Mothers / Amber Waves Of Grain, Wheeler, J., National Court Reporters Association, Donna M. Kanabay, Parfitt, E. W. & Babcock, R. (1942) Ellison W. Parfitt Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04654/.

MLA citation style:

Blue Star Mothers / Amber Waves Of Grain, et al. Ellison W. Parfitt Collection. 1942. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.04654/>.