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On July 2, 1951, Colonel <em>Harrison Henry Cocke Richards</em> died at Walter Reed General Hospital. He was born at Petersburg, Virginia, on the 26th of April, 1890, the son of Walter Buck and Mary Monroe Richards. He was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in 1907 and graduated with his Class on June 13, 1911. His early service was with the 4th Cavalry along the Mexican Border and at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. He was attached to the Aviation Section, Signal Corps in September 1915 and received his flying training at the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California, from September 8th of that year to May 12, 1916. On June 14th of that year he married Miss Landonia Brock of Riverton, Warren County, Virginia. He returned to his regiment in Hawaii and later was transferred to the 3rd Cavalry at San Antonio, Texas. In March 1917, he was assigned to aviation duty at Kelly Field, Texas. Immediately after being reassigned to aviation duty, he proceeded to Atlanta, Georgia, where he organized the School of Military Aeronautics at the Georgia School of Technology. Being promoted to the grade of Captain on May 15, 1917, he served as Commandant of this School until October 23, 1917. Thereafter, he was appointed Aeronautical Officer with the Southeastern Department.</p>
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In May 1918 Captain Richards returned to Rockwell Field, San Diego, for refresher training and was rated a Junior Military Aviator on August 19, 1918. He held the Aero Club of America Certificate No. 397. On November 1, 1918, he was ordered to Garden City, Long Island, New York, for duty overseas. The Armistice having been signed before his sailing date, Richards remained at Garden City as the Commanding Officer of Brinkley Field, Comae, L.I., and Commanding Officer of the Observation Group, 1st Provisional Wing, until January, 1919. He was then transferred to the Office of the Director of the Air Service, Washington. Later he was given command of Rich Field, Waco, Texas, and promoted to the grade of Major on July 1, 1920. After leaving Rich Field in September, 1920, Major Richards became Commanding Officer of Love Field, Dallas, Texas. Leaving there in February 1922, he served a brief tour of duty as Executive Officer of the 78th Division of Organized Reserves at Newark, New Jersey, and from 1923 to 1925 was in Washington as Chief of the Property Requirements Section, Office of the Chief of the Air Service. For two years, 1925 to 1927, he was in command of Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama.</p>
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Richards graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field, Virginia, and from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after which he served as Executive Officer of the Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas, until July 7, 1931. For a brief time he commanded the Primary Flying School at Randolph Field, Texas, and then was assigned to the Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas, on October 20, 1931. He served there as Executive Officer until February, 1936. During this period he was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant Colonel on March 16, 1935.</p>
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On July 15, 1936, Colonel Richards was again assigned to Washington in the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps, where he was placed in charge of the Information Division. He was given his commission as a temporary Colonel on August 26, 1936, and the permanent grade of Colonel on May 1, 1940. During his tour as Chief of the Information Division Richards served under General H. H. Arnold. He remained on this duty until 1939 when he was assigned as Air Officer for the Philippine Department at Manila. It was in this position that Colonel Richards was serving when World War II broke out.</p>
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Colonel Richards was with the men on Bataan who were taken prisoner by the Japanese on April 9, 1942, and was on the “Death March”. He was released from captivity three years and four months later. He retired from the Army at his own request on January 31, 1947. Colonel Richards entered Walter Reed Hospital on the 13th of March 1951 and remained there until his death.</p>
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He is survived by his wife, Landonia, and two children. His son, Harrison, Jr., is an Electrical Engineer with Westinghouse and now lives in Lima, Ohio. His daughter, Landonia Richards Gettell, is living in New York with her husband, Richard Glenn Gettell, who is Chief Economist on the staff of TIME Magazine.</p>
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This statistical summary briefly outlines the military career of a fearless soldier and airman. I first knew Richards as an upper classman at the Academy. An intrepid horseman, he naturally gravitated to the Cavalry upon graduation. Some of his riding exploits during his days with the Cavalry are still remembered. He had always been vigorously athletic, a hearty long distance walker and an excellent horseman. After returning from his long internment as a prisoner of the Japanese, he made a remarkable transcontinental tour with his daughter, both of them on horseback. However, this trip was a strain on his robust constitution impaired by imprisonment.</p>
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His vision as an officer in the Air Force is best exemplified by his ardent efforts to build additional air fields in the Philippine Islands immediately after his assignment there as Air Officer. One of the fields for which he was primarily responsible, Bataan Field, once called “Richards’ Folly”, was the only field on Bataan when the Japanese struck. Later in the Philippine campaign when General MacArthur declared Manila an open city and began the retreat to Corregidor, Richards took charge of the personnel of the Air Force units streaming into Manila from the south and organized them for resistance. Utilizing Air Force troops as infantrymen, he fought a delaying action to cover the Army’s retreat. During this critical withdrawal Richards was an inspiration to his men in putting up the most stubborn resistance to the enemy. In the heat of battle where courage and clear thinking are vital. Richards performed his duty in the best West Point tradition.</p>
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Never one to seek personal advancement, Colonel Richards arduously and fearlessly undertook any task given him.</p>
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Those of us who served with him in Army Aviation remember him as a generous warmhearted man with boundless energy and amazing memory. His integrity, courage and devotion to duty insure for him a place in the top echelon of American air pioneers.</p>
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<em>—C. S.</em></p>