Service: Army – 21 Battalion
Service number: V362857
Locality on Enlistment: Murrabit
Duration of Service: 15 May 1942 – 31 Oct 1945
Prisoner of War: No
Honours: WW1 Military Cross and bar
Date and Place of Birth: 26 Apr 1891 Colac
Parents: Frank PARKES and Isabella CLIFFORD
Spouse: Amy Martha FOORD
School/s: Colac State School
Occupation: Salesman, Farmer
Date and Place of Death: 3 Sep 1983 Kerang
Place of Burial: Kerang Cemetery
NOTES: Captain Parkes served with distinction during the First World War. He was awarded a Military Cross and later a Bar to his Military Cross. Parkes returned to service during the Second World War, enlisting at Kerang in May 1942. He was posted to the Volunteer Defence Corps and appointed second in command of the Kerang unit for the duration of the war. Like all units attached to the Volunteer Defence Corps, the unit from Kerang was primarily comprised of veterans from the First World War and responsible for the defence of their local area. Parkes moved to Kerang with his family in 1959, where they ran a poultry and dairy farm until his retirement. Australian War Memorial