 He eventually became a Brigadier General — retiring from the Air Force on October 1, 1964. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit and Air Medal. He earned a PhD from his alma mater, Rice University, and taught college history in Texas. Parrish died on Tuesday, April 7, 1987 of cardiac arrest at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Piney Point, Maryland. At the service Lieutenant General Davis Jr. said "He may have been the only white person who believed that blacks could learn to fly airplanes."
