Last Black D-Day combat veteran dies

Henry Parham, believed to be the last surviving Black combat veteran of D-Day and a longtime American Legion member, died July 4 in Pittsburgh. He was 99.

Parham served as a private in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion on D-Day. In 2013, he was featured in an “I Am The American Legion” article in The American Legion Magazine that also included a video interview. In the video, Parham describes his service as an Army balloon crewman, taking part in defense and surveillance work that included the aftermath of the Normandy invasion, mostly at night.

A 65-plus-year member of The American Legion, Parham served as post commander and district deputy. He also volunteered in VA hospitals and coordinated Memorial Day parades at area cemeteries. He most recently was a member of Squirrel Hill American Legion Post 577 in Pittsburgh.

Parham’s battalion hoisted large balloons to heights of up to 2,000 feet over Omaha and Utah beaches between D-Day and August 1944, carrying out the mission during the night hours so the balloons would not be spotted by German planes. The balloons were tethered to the ground by cables fitted with small packets of explosive charges, entangling German planes and damaging or downing them.

His battalion reached Omaha Beach shortly after the arrival of the first waves landed. When the balloonists arrived, they witnessed a scene of carnage.

“We landed in water up to our necks,” Parham had said. “Once we got there we were walking over dead Germans and Americans on the beach. Bullets were falling all around us.”