Terry's Journey in Retirement
Chapter 617
5/25/2022
Fort Gordon Tragedy
MP duty
The story of the drunk sergeant driving through a platoon of new basic training recruits at night killing three, maiming 15 others then continuing on to his quarters not knowing he even hit them has stuck in my mind for 50 years. Why? I was on duty at the Stockade and Correctional Holding Detention facility starting my 6am to 6pm shift. The perpetrator Sgt. Parks was in our custody at the sally port induction holding cell. He was still delirious and smelling of booze. The staff assigned me to escort one of the prisoners from the general compound down to the hospital to treat a foot problem. I was issued a 12 gage Ithaca shotgun or a Colt 35 pistol and walked him down a quarter mile to the hospital. Checked in to the emergency room. While awaiting his treatment I noticed a couple gurneys with dead bodies in a side room. I noticed how white and pock marked one of the young victums was; the other was covered up with a sheet.
I never had a written document on the event. Believe it was not in the Post weekly newspaper, the "Signal". Nor in local newspapers. I only now found the article via Newspaperarchives.com . The articles appeared from Odessa, Texas (as above) to many states, Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin etc. but not in the local Augusta papers. I'd always wondered how the case turned out and wondered what became of the casualties from this heinous act. We had likewise marched along the streets of the fort at night during training. These victums were not even in official training which was about to start the following day. Simply coming back from the PX post exchange to get snacks etc.
I believe it was later that day when we processed Sgt. Parks into the cell block. Completing a written record, finger prints and photographs.
Most of time I was assigned to the maximum security cell block units as the unit sergeant liked the way I handled these difficult prisoners. C block here with a parallel unit D block farther right. Normally inmates were locked into their 9x9x9 foot individual cells for 23 hours per day. One guard is locked behind bars with 24 cells; 12 down one side and 12 backed against them. Cement blocks and steel. Steel comodes, steel spring beds. Straight past the entrance door you can see the overhead wire fence surrounding the exercise grounds. One hour a week exercise time was alloted to let prisoners out of their cells. A guard with a rifle would patrol on top. That's when I'd be locked into the yard area unarmed with 24 inmates. You didn't want to be loved or hated by them as much as to be respected. Each inmate was given fifteen minutes a day to exit his cell for a shower, shave, & brush teeth at a common area. Food was delivered by truck & dished out in metal trays by one trustee then delivered to inmates. A trustee was a prisoner of good behavior let out of his cell for purposes of moping the common floor etc. These prisoners were considered classified as AD administrative detention. If they acted up and received written reprimands (Article 15 - 6 ) by the guards they could be reclassified DD disiplinary detention and serve bad time (not counting toward their sentence) and receive reduced rations (bread and water) 2000 calories / day.
A Monroe, Louisiana paper listed the charges against Parks adding up to 54 1/2 years maximum.
As far as I know Sgt. Parks remained in the cell block until his general court martial in November when he was given a total 4 year sentence of hard labor. Presumably the maximum of 3 years per count of involuntary manslaughter were considered concurrent since they occured at the same incident time. The additional penal time resulted from the (6 months max) drunk driving charge and 16 counts of assault. I'd since left the my duty as a corrections officer going to work for the Post Engineer as a Corps of Engineer. Sgt. Parks was taken by military escort to Fort Leavenworth Kansas to the USDB displinary barracks unit. Leavenworth Kansas was called prison town for the numerous prisons there. The first and largest US penetentary was located there as well housing Bugsy Segal and other notable inmates. I was asked to volunteer for some of these escort services but wasn't interested. They flew commercial plane sitting in the back and without handcuffs.
Duty in the cell block was unsavory. Standard operating procedure was to strip search & body cavity inspection any prisoner who entered the block. We dealt with suicide hanging attempts, fights, attacking guards, etc. One time during rounds I discovered a guy naked in his cell, cut wrists, smeared with blood and excrement, toilet overflowing from his cloging it up intentionally. On occasion they would throw feces or urinate toward the guards. Sometimes I'd escort an inmate to the infirmary psych ward. Striped naked in a padded room (for his own protection) till he got stabilized on drugs.
Craig Wiley served with me at the Stockade and later we shared an apartment off base at 1931 Tubman Home Road, Augusta, Georgia with a few other MPs. He was only 19 back then when he joined the Army. He left us when he got orders for Vietnam and served 19 months at the notorious Long Binh Jail (camp LBJ) pulling 12 hour shifts 7 days a week guarding drugies, black marketeers & murderers. He became a Chaplain and finished his career back at Fort Gordon.
the History Reader Long Binh Jail 34,000 GI's were imprisoned in Vietnam during the war years. If sentence was less than 1 year they served there. For more serious cases they were sent to Fort Leavenworth. The maximum security inmates and those awaiting trial (up to 30 days) were housed naked in CONEX shipping containers (squares near center of picture & aftermath of riot). On the phone Wiley said he spent most of his time supervising these units. These metal containers could hold up to 8 prisoners in 110 degree heat. During monsoons they could be flooded. A bucket was used as a toilet. Cots were taken out before dawn to prohibit lying around during the day.
History Net Long Binh Jail Riot 63 MPs and 52 prisoners were injured including Pvt Edward Haskett's death by beating to the head with shovel by black inmates. At first additional troops were brought in with M-14 M-16s fixed bayonets and flak jackets. It took a month to put down the rebellion by waiting them out. 129 courts-martial were levied against the insurrectionists for charges including murder, assault on a superior officer, aggravated assault, mutiny, aggravated arson, larceny and willful destruction of government property. Ultimately only one unnamed inmate was charged with the murder. Yet, I could find no record of a trial or conviction or a memorial to Haskett. Believe it fizzled.
On one occasion I rescued my block sergeant who has attacked within the cell by an inmate member of the Black Panther Party. My recolection is that the inmate had been at LBJ and had all these same charges as above. Not sure if fragging was a part of the charges. Perhaps his records were destroyed in the fire at LBJ or he was in transit to Fort Leavenworth, or he was facing additional charges since that time. He was a special prisoner of note, however. We also had been called up for a riot and fire situation at our compound at Fort Gordon that fizzled out quickly.
Forgotten history prison uprising npr Secretary Defense McNamara's Project 100,000 or the "Moron Corps" that allowed civilians facing prison time and other below standards personnel to be brought into the Army and resulted in 400,000 draftees.
link to priceless 17minute interview of participants in LBJ riot audio file from NPR link above