[1] A Second Lieutenant and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Soissons France during World War I.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the Medal of Honor to Parker on May 7, 1936, at the White House in a ceremony which U.S. Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Malin H. Craig attended.

He was a descendent of William Bradford, a founder of Plymouth Colony, in Massachusetts, and of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States James Iredell.

[5] He was commissioned an Army lieutenant in 1917 and served with the First Infantry Division in France during World War I, during which won all three of the nation's highest awards for gallantry in combat.

During World War II, he returned to active duty, rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was involved with training soldiers at Fort Benning, Georgia.

[3] He died on December 1, 1975, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.,[6] and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Concord, North Carolina.

Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Second Lieutenant (Infantry) Samuel Iredell Parker, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, A.E.F., near Exermont, France, 5 October 1918.