RICHARD F. HARRISON, MAJ, USMC

Richard Harrison '41

Date of birth: August 26, 1917

Date of death: May 26, 1945

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1941 Lucky Bag:

RICHARD FRANCIS HARRISON

Oxford, New York

There was much rejoicing, aye, and many huzzas in the home of Squire Harrison upon that memorable occasion which marked the entrance into the world of our wavy-haired hero, Richard Francis Harrison. 'Tis said that he first talked when only two weeks old and the first intelligible word he said was, "Fruit."

'Tis also said that when they took a blood count of our friend at the tender age of six years that his blood contained, even then, twenty percent salt water. "Very unusual" was the doctor's learned comment. Little did this doctor know how nearly correctly he had indexed Harry, one of those fellows who will give you the combination to his confidential chow locker and who goes out of his way to make you entirely happy.

A little Irish blarney, a dash of English logic, a winning smile, and you see "Phidipp" in a nut shell (or out of it).

Lacrosse Plebe 4; Lacrosse B Squad 3, NA; Choir 2, 1; Battalion Football 2; Reception Committee 3, 2, 1; Black N.

The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.

RICHARD FRANCIS HARRISON

Oxford, New York

There was much rejoicing, aye, and many huzzas in the home of Squire Harrison upon that memorable occasion which marked the entrance into the world of our wavy-haired hero, Richard Francis Harrison. 'Tis said that he first talked when only two weeks old and the first intelligible word he said was, "Fruit."

'Tis also said that when they took a blood count of our friend at the tender age of six years that his blood contained, even then, twenty percent salt water. "Very unusual" was the doctor's learned comment. Little did this doctor know how nearly correctly he had indexed Harry, one of those fellows who will give you the combination to his confidential chow locker and who goes out of his way to make you entirely happy.

A little Irish blarney, a dash of English logic, a winning smile, and you see "Phidipp" in a nut shell (or out of it).

Lacrosse Plebe 4; Lacrosse B Squad 3, NA; Choir 2, 1; Battalion Football 2; Reception Committee 3, 2, 1; Black N.

The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.

Loss

Richard was lost on May 26, 1945, when the F4U-1D he was piloting was shot down and crashed near Mintal, Philippines. He was a member (not the commanding officer) of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 115.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

From June 1941, Richard was in Iceland with the first group of marines to be stationed there.
He married Louise Perkinson, a secretary at West Point, on March 28, 1942. He was stationed at Quantico until July 1942 when he was sent to California.
He received his wings on October 12, 1943, at Pensacola and then went overseas in the early part of 1945.
He was survived by his wife and daughter Lola. In 1920, his father Judson L. was a merchant of harness and wagons, mother Lola (who died in 1937,) brother Arthur, and sisters Louise and Mary.

His wife, Louise, was listed as next of kin; she resided in Ashville, North Carolina.

His remains were recovered in 1946; he is buried in New York.

Photographs

From Press and Sun Bulletin on June 5, 1937
From Asheville Citizen Times on March 29, 1942

Memorial Hall Error

Richard is not listed with his classmates nor on the killed in action panel in Memorial Hall. This omission was discovered by reviewing the September 1946 issue of Shipmate. Suspect he was not immediately included as he was held in a missing status for a year before being declared dead.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.