Parker joined the army, saw the world and returned unscathed

Neither age nor rugby nor military service seem to have wearied Cliff Parker’s memory. He has ticked over 93 years and occasionally feels a twinge in his right knee which he says was probably a legacy of rugby.

He only recently left his house for the Masonic Court rest home and voluntarily offered up his driver’s licence.

Every year, he attends an Anzac Day service in Palmerston North’s Square and on Thursday he laid a wreath on behalf of the Vietnam veterans, proudly wearing his military MBE medal.

He was neither injured playing rugby for the army nor wounded in action. From the age of 15, he worked for a Canterbury agricultural contractor until he joined the army engineers as a 21-year-old at Burnham Military Camp. He stayed in khaki until he had to retire as a 50-year-old major at Linton Camp.

The only time he volunteered for anything in the army was to go to Korea “for a big adventure” in 1955. Happily for him, the Korean War was over – the armistice signed in July 1953.

His father had served in World War II, from El Alamein through Italy, and on his return was allocated a rehab farm at Leeston in Canterbury. Cliff played rugby for the North Canterbury schoolboy reps, but dairy farming wasn’t for him.

He didn’t play in Korea, where mostly the ground was frozen. Hundreds of locals were trucked in as labourers to help build an airstrip, roads and bridges and after work were housed in what Parker felt resembled wired prison camps. The city of Seoul was a ruin with one bridge over “a scungy river”.

During his 11-month posting he was sent to Japan to play for a British Commonwealth rugby team in which all but three players were Kiwis; two were Britons and one Australian. They won three of their five games against Japanese sides, all won when the Kiwis only played. Parker was an 85 -ilogram loosehead prop.

One unusual perk had them travelling to every game in their “hotel”, a railway sleeping car.

The engineers have been based at Linton since after WWII, so that was where Parker was sent when he returned home and he played for Kia Toa in 1956.

There was no settling though; the army whisked him off to England for two years to the Chatham Naval Base and while there he was picked for the Royal Engineers’ rugby team and four other sides. As a Kiwi, he was just selected, no trialling necessary.

While there he was sent for two months to an army base in Germany and played rugby there too.

It was through rugby he met his wife Molly, a Royal Air Force nurse who would come to dances from the local hospital following rugby matches, usually after the men had imbibed plenty of Dutch courage.

Back home he was posted to Waiouru for three years where he coached the Cadet School first XV and a Ruapehu subunion junior side.

From there, the army decided he was of suitable calibre for the Special Air Service at Papakura Camp. He didn’t even get to do a parachute jump, but saw many men on the aircraft vomiting with fear before jumping.

After only three months, he was sent to his first war zone, Vietnam. There wasn’t any rugby there either; they stayed in old French army barracks in Nui Dat and built bridges, roads and toilets and he was armed with only a .45 calibre revolver.

They were wary of Viet Cong booby traps, travelled about on American helicopters and one day the American commander, General Westmoreland, turned up and gave each of them a citation.

As for war, Parker sums it up: “It doesn’t do any good for anybody.”

He still thinks about his father’s Palmerston North-born brother, Wilfred, who was a chaplain on the Royal Navy battleship Prince of Wales which was sunk by the Japanese off Malaya in WWII. He opted to stay below with wounded men and went down with the ship.

Parker had a myriad of jobs when the army bade him farewell. For four years he was the personnel manager at PDC department store before joining Dominion Breweries in a property role.

At Abbeyfield Palmerston North assisted-living facility he started mowing their lawns and ended up as chairman while later he became chairman of Palmerston North Victim Support.

As for his longevity, there was a hint in his rest home when he was offered a cup of tea; he said: “Milk but no sugar. Treat sugar as a poison, keep fit, eat well and don’t get overweight.”

His wife died at the age of 81 and they had four children followed by 16 grandchildren.

Peter Lampp is a seasoned sports commentator and former sports editor based in Manawatū.