LTC (Ret) Robert D. Parrish

    Robert D. Parrish, LTC (ret) Age 77, died on February 16, 2018 in Tacoma, WA. He was born September 6, 1940, in Des Moines, Iowa, to the late Donald F. Parrish and Virginia McGowan. Raised in northern California and Nevada, he graduated from the University of Nevada in 1966. He was a Regular Army officer until he retired in 1985. He served two combat tours in Vietnam, one with Vietnamese infantry and rangers and one as the commander of an infantry rifle company in the 1St Cavalry Division. He was wounded twice and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, the Air Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, along with numerous other awards, including the Ranger Tab and Senior Parachutist Badge. Between tours he served as a Ranger instructor in what is now the 6th Ranger Training Battalion, Camp Rudder, FL. Later he was awarded two Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit. In 1973 he received a master's degree from the University of Alabama, and was a diehard Crimson Tide football fan.

    He was a Scotsman to his core, and very active in the Scottish community as a member of the Scottish-American Military Society and chairman of the National Tartan Day Society of Washington. Other organizations to which he belonged included the Sons of the American Revolution, the 75th Ranger Regiment Association, U.S. Army Ranger Association, Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Society of Sons of the American Colonists, the Order of the First Families of Connecticut, and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

    LTC Parrish was an accomplished author who wrote several books which were published. Combat Recon detailed his first tour in Viet Nam and was picked by the Military Book Club (a division of the Book of the Month Club) as a principal selection. He is survived by his wife, Muriel A. Parrish, his son and his wife, Robert D. Parrish II, COL (ret) and Robin, Puyallup, WA; step-grandchildren Sean Hansen and Lauren Quackenbush; his daughter and her husband, Anne E. Pecunia and Drew, Yorktown Heights, NY; grandson Andrew Pecunia, and granddaughter Ainsley Pecunia. Memorial services for Robert D. Parrish will be held Sunday, February 25, 2018, at 2 p.m. at Mountain View Funeral Home in the Aspen Chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your favorite charity.