Reaching the rank of Captain, he transferred to the Second Australian Imperial Force where he served during World War II in Australia as a quartermaster in the 5th Field Regiment until his discharge on 25 January 1945.

[3][4] Following his discharge from the AIF, Pizzey returned to teaching, and by 1946 was involved in administration at the Queensland Board of Adult Education.

This representative role encouraged Pizzey to run for parliament, and in 1950 he won the safe Country Party seat of Isis in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.

[5] He was also deputy leader of the Country Party, but he took other concurrent roles also: he held the portfolios of migration (1960–68), Aboriginal and Islander affairs (1962–68) and police (1962–68).

He was praised for his focus on secondary schooling, although his sweeping intervention in education matters was considered to have led to Brisbane's first teachers' strike in 1968.

He was accorded a State funeral held at St John's Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane and cremated at Albany Creek Crematorium.