Remembering Doug...

 

Today a moving service of remembrance was held for Doug - Douglas Craig Parrish - at Wollongong Cathedral. I have very happy memories of my time with Doug, albeit now cut short, and I'd like to share them with you.

During my time working at the University of Wollongong I'd run into Doug fairly regularly at the Wednesday markets, and our chats there were the highlight of my working week. We didn't just talk about wargaming, Doug was very much a Renaissance man and our conversation ran far and wide: books, cuisine, drink, and travel, in particular he used to talk about his plans to retire to Spain...

More recently I used to run into Doug at my local shopping mall, and he'd regale me with joke and anecdotes, and updates on his family, of which he was very proud, particularly he knew I'd be interested in his son James's career in the Army Reserve as a Captain of Infantry in the local 4th/3rd Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment. James led the detachment that took part in the French Bastille Day celebrations, marching down the Champs Elysee in Paris in 2016.

Doug (far left) and friends at the Beersheba game.

I hope I have shared with you a snapshot of a good man, a happy man, who had a kind word, and time, for everyone and lived life to the full in everything he did. But whilst we are all the poorer for missing his positive footfall on this planet, I am now also bereft of a wargaming buddy...so I treasure all the more those few occasions when we were able to find the time for a game...

Most recently he and I organised a Beersheba 100th Anniversary game, whereby he painstakingly assembled and painted a beautiful set of terrain representing the town.

Like all memorable games, each side was represented by a team of players - although I think in this shot Doug was bemused by some of his comrade's command decisions!

The first game I played with Doug was a Napoleonic game - he liked to take the side of the Prussians...Doug won, I should say!

Doug also indulged me by taking part in my favourite battle to wargame - Lutzen 1813. Of course now I could kick myself for not taking a picture of him playing, but I know he had a good time! At all events, this was another victory for Doug, holding 2 of 3 objectives at the end of the game...But this shot of him was shown at the Memorial service livestream on Youtube:

Farewell my friend, you will be missed...