Veteran of the Month – Joe Richard

January 31, 2014

February Veteran of the Month

  • Name: Joseph R. Richard
  • Place of Birth: New Bedford, MA
  • Date of Birth: 7/22/1922
  • Town: East Granby
  • Military Branch of Service: US Marine Corps, enlisted
  • Service Dates: 1942-1945
  • Highest Rank: Corporal
  • Military Job: Machine Gunner
  • Duties: Infantry Training and Combat
  • Unit Assignment: Company E, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.
  • War, Operation, or Conflict served in: WWII
  • Locations of Service: Parris Island, SC Camp Pendleton, CA, Camp Maui, Hawaii, and the South Pacific: Mariana Islands, Namur, Marshall Islands, Saipan, Iwo Jima.
  • Battles/Campaigns: Namur, Marshall Islands, Battle of Saipan, Battle of Iwo Jima.
  • Decorations: Purple Heart (Saipan and Iwo Jima), CT Veterans Wartime Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Medal, Marine Rifle Sharpshooter Medal.
  • Combat or service-related injuries: Shrapnel injuries in Saipan and Iwo Jima
  • Military Schools/Training: Camp Pendleton, CA
  • Organization Affiliations: East Granby Veterans

Bio/Narrative/memorable events:

Corporal Joseph R. Richard was born in New Bedford, MA on July 22, 1922. He moved to Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood at age three when his father was hired to help build the Aetna building. Corporal Richard attended St. Ann’s French Catholic School, and graduated from Hartford High School in 1940. Following his completion of school, Richard worked in the Defense Plant at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sworn-in the day before Thanksgiving 1942 in Springfield, MA, Corporal Richard was sent to Parris Island, SC for Boot Camp. The next stop for Corporal Richard and the new recruits was Camp Lejeune, NC, followed by Los Angeles, where they transferred to trucks and set out for Camp Pendleton, CA. There he was assigned to an Infantry Battalion and a Machine Gun Platoon and fulfilled almost a year of training before being called to combat.

In January 1944 in San Diego, the troops boarded a ship to Hawaii in a convoy, where they did some additional training before setting out for the Marshall Islands, South Pacific, and immediately went into action upon landing at Namur. Corporal Richard recalls hearing artillery overhead, as his friend Don and he were lying prone on the beach, three feet apart. He remembers how they heard a tremendous explosion that rocked the entire island, followed by a “swooshing” sound. The front end of a torpedo had landed between the two of them, just inches away. That led to the development of a lifelong bond between them, and Corporal Richard was later the best man at Don’s wedding.

After leaving the island of Namur, Corporal Richard and his unit went to Saipan. Just ten days later, he was wounded, evacuated and transported back to Pearl Harbor to recover. Then it was back to Base Camp on Maui waiting for the troops from Mariana. His platoon leader and many other men lost their lives on the Islands of Namur and Saipan.

The next landing for the 24th Regiment was Iwo Jima, another experience etched in the memory of Corporal Richard. Carrying heavy equipment with his air-cooled machine gun, it was very difficult to move between shell holes on the heavy, sandy soil and steep embankments. He remembers being in a group moving towards the airfield ahead of them, where the Japanese were using anti-aircraft guns at ground level. Their mission was to take them out. Running across the field, Corporal Richard dove for a shell hole. It was not until he was inside that he noticed the blood coming from his injured hand, where he was injured by fragments of shrapnel.

Corporal Richard was discharged from the US Marine Corps in October 1945 in Bainbridge, MD and went back home to Hartford to live with his parents and adjust to civilian life.

Corporal Richard returned to Pratt & Whitney, earning a position in Quality Engineering as a Quality Control Representative. In that position he visited various manufacturing facilities involved in producing aircraft engine parts. Later he was given a relocation assignment to a manufacturing facility overseas in Denmark. This well-remembered assignment lasted almost 4 years with his wife and teenage daughter living in rented housing. After 42 years of service, Corporal Richard retired from Pratt & Whitney in 1983.

Corporal Richard has been married to his wife Lorraine since 1949. They started their family in Hartford, but moved to Windsor in 1958. They currently live in East Granby, where they moved to in1968. They are blessed with two sons and a daughter, and five grandchildren.