Ralph S. Parr, Jr., USAF Fighter Pilot Extraordinaire

In August of the next year, he became Chief of Staff of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Iran.16 In February 1974, Parr was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, in Florida, where he served first as Director of Operations of the Tactical Air Warfare Center and then as Chief of Staff of the Armament Development Test Center. [...]for having served as a fighter pilot in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, for having served five combat tours, for accumulating a record of 641 combat mission, for having been a double ace in Korea, for having shot down the last enemy aircraft downed during the Korean War, for becoming the only pilot to have earned both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Air Force Cross, for having earned at least 60 decorations (including ten Distinguished Flying Crosses), and for having flown more than 6,000 hours in fighter aircraft, Ralph Parr should be remembered as one of the greatest of those fighter pilots who served his country in the United States Air Force.20