DeWitt Webster Parker Papers

DeWitt Webster Parker, who went by the name of Eric in Spain, was born in 1910 in Boston. The son of a Harvard graduate, Parker traveled to Europe in 1934, taking up temporary residence in Paris with his wife, Esther, before returning to the United States. In March of 1937, Parker sailed from New York on the Ile de France to join the International Brigades. Because of his fluency in French and familiarity with the country, Parker was first assigned to help American volunteers move from Paris to the Spanish border, to arrange care for injured soldiers at the American Hospital in Paris and to negotiate the release of jailed Brigaders. In July 1937, Parker finally got his wish and was transferred to Spain. He attended Officer Training School in Albacete, achieving the rank of Lieutenant. Well-educated as well as a committed Communist, Parker was soon appointed political commissar of the school, and later of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, where, among other responsibilities, he conducted trials of soldiers accused of indiscipline. In March 1938, Parker was killed along with battalion commander David Reiss and others by a direct hit of artillery fire on the battalion command post in Belchite.

Sources:

Arthur Landis, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. New York: Citadel Press, 1967.Edwin Rolfe, The Lincoln Battalion: The Story of the Americans Who Fought in Spain in the International Brigades. New York: Random House, 1939.