Ellson Alistair Parker (11 March 1938 - 2018) is a former Major of the Green Berets who had combat experience in the Vietnam War. He was the leader of the Sigma team of the Green Berets, one of the last units to leave South Vietnam in 1973.
Biography[]
Ellson Alistair Parker was born in Columbus, Ohio on 11 March 1938. Parker enlisted in the US Army's special forces - the Green Berets - in 1959 and was sent to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army, which was engaging North Vietnam and the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. He assisted Hmong and Montagnard troops in Operation Hotfoot, operations against the communist forces in the Kingdom of Laos in 1959, and later commanded US special forces after the United States involved itself in Vietnam officially after 1964. Parker took command of an experienced team of Green Berets and saw many search-and-destroy missions under his control succeed. Due to his unit's worth, they were kept in Vietnam even after Vietnamization took its toll on US troop numbers and they took part in the December 1972 Operation Beanstalk. Sergeant Andrew P. Nash was one of the last US soldiers to die in the war, fighting under his command. He returned to America in February 1973 after the Paris Peace Accords and trained Green Berets until 1990. He died in 2018.