The recently built VA center in Monroeville may be named for a member of the only all-Black unit to take part in the D-Day invasion during World War II.
If the Senate passes Rep. Summer Lee’s legislation — which was approved by the U.S. House on Monday — the Department of Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic will become the Henry Parham VA Clinic.
Parham, a Wilkinsburg resident who died in 2021 at the age of 99, was a 1st class private in the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only all-Black unit to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day.
For two months, Parham’s unit protected critical supply lines.
From early June to well into August 1944, Parham stayed on the beach with his unit, performing the largely unpublicized mission of raising hydrogen-filled barrage balloons to deny low-level airspace to enemy planes. The balloons were anchored to the ground by steel cables, with small explosive charges attached to them which were capable of taking the wing off of a swiftly moving plane.
The balloons could be raised or lowered to the desired altitude by a winch, thus protecting the assaulting American infantry and armor from being strafed by German planes. The balloons and their cables dot the sky in many photos of the Normandy invasion.
As the days wore at the beach, a change of clothes was considered a luxury. The beach was where everyone went to the bathroom. And there were no tents. Parham slept in a foxhole.
“That’s right. There was no bed,” Parham said during a 2019 interview about the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. “Staying in your trench was the hardest thing. It was two months of ducking and dodging and hiding. I was fortunate that I didn’t get hit. I managed to survive with God’s strength and help.”
Below, watch Parham’s interview with the Veterans Breakfast Club.
Parham’s battalion ended up serving 140 days in France, including a stint in Cherbourg protecting Gen. George Patton’s Third Army. A commendation by Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower cited the 320th for the “splendid manner” in which it carried out its duties, and Parham was later named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 2013.
Parham’s service wasn’t exactly celebrated when he returned to a segregated hometown in Richmond, Va., following the war. Parham eventually moved to Pittsburgh and devoted his life to service, volunteering at the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center and his local American Legion for decades alongside his wife, Ethel.
Legislation to dedicate the clinic in Parham’s memory was supported by fellow Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Peters), and was introduced in the Senate by Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey (D-Scranton) and John Fetterman (D-Braddock).
”Like so many Black veterans, Mr. Parham returned to a country that denied him the very freedoms he had fought to protect, but he endured, devoting his life to service,” said Lee, D-Swissvale. “Naming this facility after Henry Parham is a tribute to his legacy and an acknowledgment of the immense sacrifices made by veterans like him — those who fought for freedom abroad while enduring injustice at home.”
”Honoring our veterans means cutting through the noise and getting things done for the people who put their lives on the line for us,” said Fetterman. “Henry Parham not only served his country during his time in the Army, but also for decades after by volunteering.”