The following information was provided directly to Steven Miranda by Parker Shihan in October 2012. All efforts have been made to ensure the information is as Parker Shihan provided.
Amos L. Parker, Chief Petty Officer E7, US Navy, Retired
Amos Parker’s US Naval career began in 1956 at the age of 20. He served honorably until his retirement in 1976. Throughout his Naval career he spent the majority of his time within the US 7th Fleet in the Pacific, including supporting the Vietnam War. Below are the main highlights of his time in the US Navy.
1956: Enlists in the US Navy. Reports for basic training and the Naval Training Center (NTC) in San Diego, California. Upon graduating from basic training, Amos was assigned to the Port Loma Naval Base supporting Naval operations.
1958-1960: Reports to the Naval Training Center in San Diego for communications training. Here he learns domestic and international Morse Code, radio procedures, etc. Upon completion of his training, he is assigned to the USS Bradford as a communication/radiomen.
1960-1962: In 1960, Amos was ordered to NTC, Bainbridge, Maryland where he underwent Radio B technical training. This was a 9 month training course. After his Radio B training, he was ordered to Naval Submarine School in Connecticut, circa 1961. Here he also attended the Advanced Antenna School which lasted 3 month. He was then ordered to Hawaii where he served as Radioman aboard the submarine, USS Swordfish. During his time aboard the Swordfish, they were ordered to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California where the Swordfish underwent maintenance to replace her nuclear reactors. During this time, Amos provided fire control support as well as other duties.
1962-1970: In 1962, Amos was received orders to Yokosuka, Japan where served as a member of the Naval Beach Group One Westpac Detachment. In 1965, Amos was ordered to serve aboard the USS Winston in communications and later order to Guam to serve aboard the USS Proteus in the same capacity. In 1968 he was ordered to Saigon in support of the Vietnam war. During this time he also deployed to the Philippines. As part of his assignment, he was assigned in support of the Beach Masters and Seabees setting up communications beach the beach and ships, placing him and unit in direct line of enemy fire.
1970-1976: In 1970, Amos began his second and final tour in Yokosuka, Japan with the Naval Communication Station where he, among other things, supported military and non-military communications. Upon his retirement, he remained in Japan until his return home in 1994/95, with his last trip to Japan in 1998 to meet with nidai Kancho Kyoichi Inoue in support of the IYAF.
