Paul Woodburn Parmalee was a PFC (Private First Class) in the 302 Engineer Combat Battalion in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Parmalee was born on October 17, 1926, in Mansfield, Ohio. In 1944, 18-year-old Paul joined an army-specialized training preserve program at Ohio University. His date of entry into active service is January 17, 1945, where he then served in the Philippines and Japan. He was honorably discharged on November 22, 1946. Following his military service, Parmalee taught at Stephen F. Austin University, served as curator of zoology and assistant director of Illinois State Museum, and then came to the University of Tennessee, joining the department of anthropology faculty and later serving as the director of the Frank H. McClung Museum from 1977 until his retirement in 1989. Parmalee was first married to Barbara Griswold (1923-1991) and later to Geneva Nail Wyatt. Parmalee died at the age of 79 on July 4, 2006, and is buried in Adams County, Illinois.