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At 1030 hours, 6 June 1944, Lieutenant Colonel <em>Richard C. Blatt </em>was the first person to disembark from his craft, at Omaha Red Beach. He personally led the assault elements from his battalion across the mine infested beaches to the high ground several hundred yards inland. This was the moment Colonel Blatt had waited for since he assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, on 29 October 1942.</div>
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The battalion encountered a long prepared, determined, and powerfully emplaced enemy. All day the battalion advanced slowly but surely against intense machine gun, mortar and artillery fire. Several times during the day when the advance slowed, Colonel Blatt moved forward to the lead scouts and successfully pushed their lines forward to the objective. Just before dark he again went forward with his intelligence officer to assure proper coordination of the fighting elements for the night. About 2030 hours, while on this mission, the enemy laid down several heavy artillery barrages. During one of these a small fragment hit Colonel Blatt in the temple. He died that night at the Engineer Brigade Aid Station on Omaha Red Beach.</div>
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The foregoing is extracted from official War Department files.</div>
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Dick, as he was known to family and friends, was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, on 23 January 1909. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clair Leon Blatt, both natives of Western Pennsylvania. Dick wanted to go to West Point since childhood. Upon graduation from Mercer High School he was offered an appointment to the Naval Academy. He turned it down and waited a year for the West Point appointment. During that year he attended Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania. He entered the Academy in July 1928 but was found in descriptive geometry in January 1930. Later he successfully passed the examinations and reentered that fall as a member of the next class.</div>
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At Trophy Point on the beautiful morning of 13 June 1933, General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff, United States Army, delivered the graduation address. Secretary of War Dern delivered the diplomas to Dick Blatt and 346 of his classmates. Dick was commissioned in the Infantry. He was assigned to the 28th Infantry, Fort Niagara, for his first station.</div>
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Upon arrival at Fort Niagara it was found that all but a few officers and most of the non-commissioned officers were absent on duty with the Civilian Conservation Corps. As a result Dick’s initial assignment was as Commander, Company C, 28th Infantry. This was a rather traumatic experience to go from a cadet to an infantry company commander in only one jump For the next three years he remained at Fort Niagara where he met, wooed and married Virginia G. Borrows, a very lovely and highly talented lady from Niagara Falls, New York. They were united in marriage in a military wedding at St. Peters Church, Niagara Falls, New York, on the evening of 20 July 1936. On 1 August they sailed for Panama where they were stationed for the next two years.</div>
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In the fall of 1938 Dick was a student at The Infantry School. Upon graduation there tn June 1939, then Colonel Courtney H. Hodges wrote of Dick, “He has the highest potential value for any class of duty.”</div>
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Next Dick was assigned to the 11th Infantry with station at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and Fort Custer, Michigan During this time Colonel B E Brewer said, “The initiative, intelligence, force and judgment displayed by Lieutenant Blatt marks him as a superior officer who can be depended upon to meet any emergency.”</div>
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Shortly after World War II was declared Dick was assigned as a student at Command and General Staff College. From there he had a short stint with the 79th Infantry Division at Camp Pickett, Virginia. In June 1942 he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division. The division was located at Camp A.P. Hill, Virginia. It moved to Camp Blanding, Florida, for final training and preparation before going to England that fall. Dick’s first job was with the division staff Then he became Executive Officer, 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry. He assumed command of this battalion in October 1942, which job he performed for the rest of his life.</div>
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Present survivors of Dick are, his wife Virginia, who retired several years ago from a distinguished career with the Central Intelligence Agency. She lives in Hollywood, Maryland; his brother, William Roland Blatt, Mercer, Pennsylvania; a niece, Virginia Blatt Forbes; and a nephew, Richard K. Blatt.</div>
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Dick is buried at the American Military Cemetery, Cambridge, England. Virginia has visited there and found it to be most impressive and beautiful. His name is inscribed on the World War II memorial plaque in St. Peters Church, Niagara Falls, New York.</div>
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The Silver Star Medal was posthumously awarded to Dick. Also included was the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Distinguished Unit Emblem.</div>
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The author of Dick Blatt’s biography in the <em>HOWITZER </em>expressed the character and personality of this true son of West Point so simply and wonderfully that it bears repeating; “To the men of the Corps and to the graduates of West Point it is an established fact that the Academy stamps her sons and sends them forth a standard product. A West Pointer is more than a college graduate—more than an officer and a gentleman, if such is possible. Of the many molding influences, the academic department reigns supreme. It is in this predominant phase of cadet life that Dick Blatt stands foremost. Not as a scholar and not as one to whom academics come easily, but as one who has travelled an unusually rocky road to the end with far more success than those who can exhibit a pair of stars on their collars. This is a statement that only a West Pointer understands, by a West Pointer, and of a West Pointer.”</div>
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<em>—Ned Gee</em></div>