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Personal info

Full name
RICHARDS, Arthur Harold
Date of birth
12 December 1921
Age
22
Place of birth
Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa
Hometown
Vallecito, Calaveras County, California

Military service

Service number
T-122885
Rank
Flight Officer
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
750th Bombardment Squadron,
457th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
24 August 1944
Place of death
Near Hatmannsdorf, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Luxembourg
Plot Row Grave
B 5 46

Immediate family

Members
Arthur E. Richards (father)
Maybel E. (Steward) Richards (mother)
Shirley G. Richards (sister)
Marion Richards (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-97571
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Weimar, Germany
Mission: Bombing of a V-2 rocket site
MACR: 8201

More information

F/O Arthur H. Richards was employed at an aircraft factory before he enlisted in Los Angeles, California on 7 October 1942.

The airplane was hit by flak over the target. It dove out of formation with a wing on fire, spiraled down, pulled up into a stall and one wing and the tail came off. The plane then went into a spin and exploded at about 10,000 feet.

F/O Richards didni't leave the airplane.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Grand-Failly, France.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men / 1930/1940 Census / Strauss Family Tree, www.fold3.com – MACR, www.findagrave.com – Russell S. Pickett / Coleman
Photo source: www.findagrave.com