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Charles (Chick) Thomas Parsons, Jr.
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Charles Thomas Parsons, Jr., was born on April 22, 1900, in Shelbyville, Tennessee. At the age of five he went with an uncle, Oscar Searcy, to Manila where he lived in Intramuros and went to the Santa Potenciana School.
He returned to his family in Chattanooga in 1908. When he was 21 he worked his way to Manila on a tramp steamer. He decided to stay
Governor General Leonard Wood hired him as a secretary. After three years Parsons entered the private sector, working for the telephone company, a tobacco firm, and later running a lumber operation near Zamboanga in southern Philippines. This is where he met and married Katrushka Jurika.
He returned to Manila where he managed Luzon Stevedoring Company and joined the US Navy; he was attached to Submarine Squadron 4 as a lieutenant commander in the reserves. As manager of Luzon Stevedoring Co. he also acquired status as honorary Panamanian Consul due to the amount of shipping handled under that country’s registry.
Wh en WWII broke out Parsons was captured by the Japanese, but as a civilian. Even while under house arrest by the Japanese, he was able to begin an intelligence net that functioned throughout the war. He was released due to his status as Panamanian Consul in Manila, and he was able to leave with his family for the United States in June, 1942. They left aboard the Japanese vessel Ural Maru.
He spent the rest of the war working for General Douglas MacArthur, first as an agent of the Allied Intelligence Bureau, and later directly within the General’s GHQ in the Philippine Regional Section. He was responsible for bringing supplies and radios by submarine to the guerrillas in the Philippines. He eventually had 20 “Special Mission” submarines doing this re-supply work; they also took out civilian and military refugees. During his numerous trips in and out of the islands, now as a commander, Parsons helped establish and maintain extensive intelligence nets and coastwatcher stations there.
He received two Navy Crosses, a Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star, and the Medal of Valor (Philippine) for his work behind enemy lines which enabled the returning allied forces to land nearly unmolested on Leyte. He was able to divert allied artillery and air bombardment away from civilian areas, which saved thousands of Filipino lives.
After the war Parsons resumed his business activities in Manila and assisted in rebuilding the country. He worked closely with the newly-independent country’s first president, Manuel Roxas, and became a Filipino citizen. He left the USNR in 1948. He died in May, 1988, survived by his four sons, Michael, Peter, Patrick and Jose.
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