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SGT JOHN JULIUS PAKULAT, originally from Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, enlisted in the United States Army on August 15, 1915 at Fort Slocum, New York and began his enlisted service as a Private on the same day. He was assigned to Battery "B", 6th Field Artillery, and took part in the Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916, trying to capture Pancho Villa.
"Battery "B" crossed the Border of Mexico on the sixteenth of March, nineteen hundred and sixteen in the vanguard of that army which comprised the Punitive Expedition."
"In the first forty-five hours the battery covered one hundred and twenty-eight weary miles, thus establishing a new world's record. Later, ragged and worn, they continued to the vicinity of their present encampment, and there, where luxuries are few and the tasks often long and tedious, they are enjoying life as it is lived in Mexico."
After his Mexican Campaign service, he was reassigned to Headquarters Company, went to Europe, and served with the American Expeditionary Forces under General "Blackjack" Pershing during World War I.
SGT. JOHN J. PAKULAT was awarded by the French goverment the French CROIX DE GUERRE with bronze star, under Order No. 15.515 (D), dated April 5, 1919, General Headquarters, French Armies of the East, with the following Citation: "A brave and zealous soldier, he established an important telephone line under a violent bombardment and carried a wounded comrade to the first-aid station."
SGT. JOHN J. PAKULAT was subsequently awarded the SILVER STAR by the United States after the war when the Silver Star Award was enacted. The citation by the Division Commander cites the following: "Deserving of great praise for his disregard of personal safety while establishing communication for his regiment under intense shell fire, and aiding a wounded comrade to a place of safety."
Sgt. John J. Pakulat was honorably discharged from the United States Army on June 4, 1920.
*** After returning home from World War I, John J. Pakulat changed his name to John J. Parker on July 13, 1922.
On November 5, 1944, John J. Parker's oldest son, PFC John Emil Parker, 104th Infantry Division, (Timberwolves), 414th Regiment Company "B", was shot and killed by a German sniper in a farmyard near the Maas River in Holland.
John J. Parker was a member of the American Legion, Irving W. Adams Post #36, Roslindale, Massachusetts.
This Web page is a tribute to Uncle John who served his country well, during the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, as well as his meritorious service with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.
This Web page downloads with a musical theme (MIDI file).
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Site designed, coded in HTML, and maintained by
Kurt A. Dold
, of Norwood, Massachusetts, nephew of Sgt. John J. Pakulat.
This Web page tribute was originally published on October 1, 2000. The last update to this page was on August 28, 2004. |
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