Early Life
Parkin was born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. As a boy he was always interested in ships and was in the sea scouts. He was always keen on drawing (especially drawing ships), and after leaving school at age 14 that interest got him a job at an engraving firm. In 1928 aged 18 he joined the Royal Australian Navy, which took him to ports around the Pacific and gave him plenty more subjects to draw.
He rose through the ranks of the navy to become a chief petty officer, and in 1939 was drafted onto the newly-commissioned light cruiser HMAS Perth. Its sole peaceful mission was a trip to New York to represent Australia at the World's Fair, from which it was straight into World War II.
Read more about this topic: Ray Parkin
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 14:25.
“To my fancy, one looks back on life, it has only two responsibilities, which include all the others: one is the bringing of new life into existence; the other, educating it after it is brought in. All betrayals of trust result from these original sins.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)