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<em>Parker W. West</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was born in San Francisco, California, on August 21, 1868, the son of Hon. J. W. West, late Senator from Louisiana, from which state Major West was appointed to the United States Military Academy, entering there on June 14, 1876.</p>
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Upon graduation from the Academy in 1881 he was commissioned an Additional Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry on June 11th, and a few days later, June 26th, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the same regiment. His first station was at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo. In 1882 his regiment was ordered to Arizona, and for the next seventeen years, Lieut. West’s career was just one change of station after another in the states along the southern border.</p>
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From 1882 until 1885 his regiment was in the field, off and on, against the Indians, operating out of Fort Thomas or Fort San Carlos, Arizona. Then followed thirteen years of duty at Fort Stockton, Fort Concha, Eagle Pass, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Clark and Fort Ringgold, broken by one tour of duty at Fort Sill and one at Fort Reno and two at Jefferson Barracks, Mo.</p>
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He was promoted First Lieutenant November 25th, 1887 and was Regimental Adjutant, 3rd Cavalry, from September 1st, 1894 to June 1st, 1897. He had service in the field in December 1892 and January 1893, suppressing disturbances along the Rio Grande arising from the Mexican revolutionists.</p>
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Upon the outbreak of the Spanish War in the spring of 1898 his regiment was ordered to Camp Thomas, Georgia, enroute to Cuba. It was made part of the Cavalry Division and Lieut. West was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Cavalry Division at Tampa, Florida. He was offered at this time a commission as Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, U.S. Volunteers, which he declined. On May 31st, 1898, he was promoted to Captain of Cavalry and assigned to the 8th Cavalry. His regiment was one of the first to go to Cuba, where it became part of the Cavalry Division of the 5th Corps, in which Captain West served successively as Acting Chief Commissary of Subsistence and then as Chief Quartermaster until September 25th, when he was sent home on sick-leave until October 24th, 1898. He had served throughout the Santiago Campaign and in the battle of San Juan.</p>
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With others in the same category, Captain West did not return to Cuba but was detailed on Mustering Duty in New York City. During that tour of duty he was commissioned as Major and Chief Commissary of Subsistence, U.S. Volunteers, but on April 17th, 1899 he was honorably discharged from that commission to accept one as Major and Inspector General, U.S. Volunteers and was ordered to the office of The Inspector General of the Army in Washington, D. C. While there he was promoted to Captain, transferred to the 5th Cavalry and ordered to duty at the Headquarters of the Department of Texas as Inspector General and Acting Adjutant General. It was while on duty at San Antonio that his wife, the former Mrs. Alice Barney Hall, of St. Louis, Mo. to whom he had been married less than a year, died in 1899.</p>
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On October 21st, he again sailed for the Philippines where he served as Inspector General of the Department of the Pacific and the 8th Army Corps in Manila until May 14th, 1900, and in the same capacity in the Department of Northern Luzon until September 19th, 1901. He had been promoted to Lieut. Colonel and Inspector General, U.S. Volunteers on December 14th, 1900, from which volunteer commission he was honorably discharged on June 30th, 1901. He was transferred In the regular army to the 11th Cavalry on August 16th, 1901, He left the Philippines for home on October 6th, 1901 but, after a short leave of absence and a tour of duty as a member of the Board of Revision, he was again ordered back to the Philippines to join his regiment, arriving there on August 14th, 1902. Here he served as a member of an Examining Board, in the Department of Northern Luzon until January 3, 1903, when he was ordered to the United States to become Aide-de-Camp to Lieut. General Arthur MacArthur.</p>
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Captain West joined General Mac-Arthur at San Francisco and served with him as Aide from May 1st, 1903 until March 6th, 1906. In 1904 he accompanied General MacArthur to Japan and Manchuria as an observer with the Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese war. Upon completion of his duty as Aide, Captain West joined his regiment at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where he was not destined long to stay, for in that summer he was ordered to San Francisco, Cal. on relief work for the earthquake sufferers, and while there he was promoted to Major and assigned to the 14th Cavalry at Walla Walla, Washington, where he joined after the earthquake relief work was finished.</p>
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On November 6th, 1906 Major West was detailed to the Inspector General’s Department and was ordered to duty in the office of the Inspector General of the Army, at Washington, D. C., where he served until he was retired from active duty for “Disability Incurred in Line of Duty”, on November 29th, 1909.</p>
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On October 15th, 1910, Major West was appointed Deputy Governor of the U.S. Soldiers Home in Washington, D. C. This is a position much sought for by many, but in spite of that Major West performed his duties so exceptionally well, and his personality and ability were so pronounced, that every three years thereafter, for seven times in succession, he was reappointed to the position until he applied to be relieved therefrom on February 28th, 1933.</p>
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On June 1st, 1915 Major West married Miss Maud Williamson of Washington, D. C. who survives him.</p>
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During his active career, Major West’s ability and pleasant personality brought him many interesting and much sought-for details. After his retirement he occupied a unique position in Washington, where he knew and was known by practically all of the prominent characters who crossed the stage of the Nation’s Capital from 1910 to the day of his death. The walls of his sitting room were covered by photographs that would be the envy of any collector, inscribed as they were with sentiments showing the high esteem of the donors.</p>
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Up to the very end he retained the calm unruffled spirit that he always had in his younger days, when he refused to become excited regardless of surrounding conditions. His kindness and consideration for younger officers won him a host of friends that he retained throughout his life and by whom his passing will be deeply felt. His death was perfectly calm and peaceful when, on Monday morning, January 20th, 1947, he left to join the “long grey line” of his many friends and fellow officers who had started on the same journey ahead of him.</p>
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<em>—W. D. C.</em></p>