Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Parker
Lake Superior Regiment

The question of returning to Canada is one which is of great interest to all of us, and naturally there has been a lot of discussion about it. Unfortunately, the army is a great breeding place for rumours—mostly of the ‘latrine’ variety—and this subject has proved itself to be just as fruitful in the production of rumours as any that has ever been under discussion. So I’m going to ‘put you in the picture’, as far as I know it myself, to give you some idea of what the future holds.

(War diary, Fifty Forum, 20 Jul 1945)

Born on 25 May 1915 in Lockerbie, Scotland, Henry Hugh Alexander Parker was a University of Toronto graduate and insurance agent. He enlisted with the 48th Highlanders and went overseas with the 1st Division. He returned to Canada in 1942 to be an instructor at RMC before joining the staff of the 4th Armoured Brigade headquarters. He served as assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general of the brigade during the Normandy campaign. In September 1944, he was appointed second-in-command of the Lake Superior Regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Keane.

After VE-Day, Keane returned to Canada and relinquished command to Parker, who had been briefly attached as commandant of the 4th Division training school. Taking over the battalion during the long period overseas before demobilization, he endorsed the creation of a regimental newspaper, declaring: “This is your paper boys, and it is only through your continued support that it will thrive and be of interest to the reader … I would like to see in the pages of this paper lots of discussion on the points which concern all of us. You don’t have to pull your punches—the editors can take it!” Parker led the LSR home in January 1946.

He remained in the postwar army and commanded the 1st Battalion, Canadian Highlanders (Black Watch) in West Germany in 1953 and attended staff colleges of the US Army and NATO. Like a great many war veterans, he opposed the armed forces unification plan and retired from the Canadian army in 1967.

He died in Toronto on 21 October 1989.