Obituary for Colour Sergeant Kenny Parsons
Kenny joined the Army in January 1963 and, after training at Blenheim Camp in Bury St Edmunds, he joined the 1st Battalion The East Anglian Regiment in Felixstowe in the early part of 1963.
During his military career he served worldwide in countries as diverse as Germany, Cyprus, Sharjah, Kenya, Norway and Denmark. He also completed operational tours in Aden, Radfan and Northern Ireland.
For those of us that served with Kenny in the military he will be remembered as a soldier, a character, an athlete and an entertainer; and on many occasions he had the ability to produce most of these characteristics at the same time.
As a soldier he had a very successful career. His natural attributes as a sportsman were soon identified and he became a physical training instructor. His natural wit and all round fitness made a deep impression on many of us. For many in the physical training world the ultimate aim is to get into the Army Physical Training Corps; Kenny would no doubt have achieved this were it not for family reasons in the mid-60s. Their loss was our gain and Kenny continued serving with the Vikings, which by this time had become the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment.
In addition to his time with the 1st Battalion, Kenny did a full tour with Cambridge UOTC where he was commended for his ability to inspire the young students, many of whom went on to join the regular army.
When he returned to the Vikings in October 1972 he joined B Company in Cyprus as a Platoon Sergeant and very soon settled in with an organisation with a deserved reputation on the sports fields; and his natural fitness and professionalism made him ideal for any task in hand. He took great pride in his Platoon Commander, 2Lt John McColl and, as ‘Mr McColl’ went on to be General Sir John McColl, Kenny took full credit for this whenever the opportunity arose.
During his service Kenny completed the Physical Training Instructors Course, the Senior Commanders Course at Brecon, a Nuclear Biological and Chemical Warfare Course, and the Machine Gun Sustained Fire Instructors Course. He also successfully completed the Royal Marines Tactics Course, where his fitness came to the fore and he achieved a B Grade.
As an athlete and a sportsman he was without par; and within a few months of joining the Battalion he had shown his true merit. In the Inter Company Athletics match in 1963 it is recorded that Pte Parsons of C Company won the 220yds and was second in the 440yds and 880yds. This was the start of an athletics career in the military that lasted throughout the 60s and beyond. He wasn’t just an athlete; he was the epitome of an athlete. All those that saw him run were influenced by him; he always looked and sounded the part. In 1966 Kenny, by now a Cpl, won the British Army of the Rhine 440yds hurdles and went on to achieve high honours in the Army Championships. Kenny excelled on the track as an individual; however he was at his best in a relay race when he would influence his team mates and bring out the best in everyone. Kenny naturally progressed into coaching and many of the members of the Bn Team that won the Army Championships in 1978 owe a debt of gratitude to Kenny Parsons. All of this was done with professional humour – Tony Jones told me a tale of how before a race, Kenny announced that he would accompany him out to set up his blocks. Tony tried to tell him that he had never used starting blocks before, to no avail. As Kenny said: ‘the opposition don’t know that and it will scare them to death’. So they did and it did; it is no coincidence that Tony Jones went on to emulate Kenny in the 400 meters hurdles in the Army Championships; although Kenny always maintained that yards were a lot harder to do than metres!
As a character Kenny was without equal, on duty, off duty, 24/7 he could be relied upon to raise the morale. Whilst stationed in Aden it was a well-known fact that Arab shopkeepers liked to barter; Kenny took that as a personal challenge and with his ability to talk the hind leg off a donkey, the average Arab shopkeeper turned suicidal whenever Kenny entered his emporium. The bottom line in Kenny’s modus operandi was that no money was ever going to actually change hands anyway.
For anyone that has had the pleasure of travelling as a passenger in a car when Kenny was driving, they would surely remember that it was an unforgettable experience; for Kenny drove in the same fashion that he went through life. In Cyprus Kenny saw the RAF barrier sentries at RAF Akrotiri as a distinct challenge to his driving skills; and the slightest chance of an opening would see him driving through the gap at speed shouting out of the window at the sentry: ‘Blood for the hospital’.
Kenny left the Army as a Colour Sergeant in June 1977 on redundancy and after leaving the army he continued his career in the Physical Training world and went on to achieve qualifications at the highest level. It is also noted that after he left the Army he joined the Territorial Army and went on to achieve the rank of Warrant Officer as a QMSI in the Army Physical Training Corp, attached to the Parachute Regiment in South London.
Whilst Kenny has been portrayed as something of an action man, which he was, he was also very much a family man. He always spoke about Mandy, Yvette and the grandchildren and he was very proud of them all. They were a credit to Kenny and themselves during the battle against the dreaded ‘C’ over the final months.
Kenny planned his own funeral to a certain extent and it is fitting that he was buried in the family plot at Putney Vale in South London. The cemetery holds three VC winners and it was the final departure place for Bobby Moore the England Football Captain and Hattie Jacques the Comedienne amongst others; undoubtedly a fitting place for Kenny to end up.
Each of us will have our own memories of Kenny: as a soldier, fearless; as a sportsman, outstanding; as a character, a legend; and as a friend, the best.
For those of us that had the privilege of knowing Kenny as a comrade and friend, the world was a better place. It is also safe to say that the world will be a quieter place for his passing, but he will be very sadly missed. Goodbye old friend.
KCJ