DAVID G. PARENT

​Born:
Enlisted:
Tour:​​
​Discharged:
​Re-Enlisted:

​​Sandwich East, Ontario
1950
Korea
Leading Seaman –Stocker
March 1955

on board HMCS Huron

​Veterans’ Memories Not Foggy
By Holly Lake – Ottawa Sun 

    Not everyone can thank fog for their lives.

    But Korean War veterans Glenn Wilberforce and Dave Parent know it was all that saved them the day their destroyer ran aground, leaving them high and dry in communist territory.  It was 1953 and enemy North Koreans were nearby.

    “If they can see us, we would have been dead ducks,” said Parent of Windsor.

    When the HMCS Huron, a 380-ft destroyer, ran aground at 12:38am, July 13, they’d just ended their watch in the engine room and were crawling into their hammocks.

    The force threw Wilberforce out of his, on to the table below and then on to the mess deck.

    “I had one foot in the hammock and the other on the table.  Glenn came falling out and almost hit me on the way down,” Parent recalled, laughing.

    The day is etched in Wilberforce’s mind as it was the scariest one he spent on the seas between 1952 and 1955.  While the same is true for Parent, it was also the day he turned 22.  Going aground meant he didn’t get a birthday tot of rum.

    The captain ordered all excess weight off the ship.  The first thing to go overboard was a piano, thanks to Parent and Wilberforce.  It refused to sink, however, so they threw shells at it to force it under.  

    “We never saw a piano float again,” said Wilberforce, of Gananoque.

    Nine hours later, the 290-man crew and all weight on board shifted to the back of the boat.  With engines full astern, the captain got them off the island.
American destroyers and an aircraft carrier had moved in.  Overhead, bombers were also ready to ward off the enemy.

    “They were there for us,” Parent said.

MISSING HOW

    What was not there was 40 feet of bow and the ship’s submarine detector.  The Huron was forced to sail backwards for 600 miles into Japan, where the Japanese built her a new bow.

    “We had the world record for a Canadian warship sailing astern,” Parent said.  “We were ass-backwards.”            

    Yesterday, the pair were among the 200 veterans who gathered at the National War Memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice agreement.  

    They reminisced of old times, remembering friends lost on their sister ship (Iroquois) and spoke of their Korean comrades, some of whom also took part in the ceremony.

Just like their shipmates, the Koreans are their brothers.  “They’re good people,” Parent said.  “They’re one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met.”

    True to their nature, Wilberforce said, two Koreans in uniform walked up to him to say thank you.
​
    “It made me feel great,” he said proudly.  “They’re showing their appreciation and it’s appreciated by us.”

    More than 26,000 Canadians participated in the Korean Wars from June 1950 until July 1953.  Another 7,000 served as part of the ceasefire until 1955.  More than 516 were killed and 1,200 wounded.

Ottawa Sun - Republic of Korea ambassador Ki-ho Chang, right, lays wreath during a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice at the National War Memorial.

HMCS Huron - Word Record for Canadian Ship to go 600 Miles in Reverse!

HMCS Huron in dry-dock in Japan

David G. Parent