Hardie Richards is pictured next to his Marine uniforms. He served in the Korean War, where he was wounded in combat and received the Purple Heart. Nearly 96 years old before he died on July 21,
Richards still had shrapnel in his shoulder and was honored to have served his country. — Andrew Nygaard | The Holyoke Enterprise
FLASHBACK 2022: PART II
The countdown has finished. Confetti has filled the sky and a gigantic ball has dropped over Times Square. Ready or not, 2023 has arrived.
To close out the previous year, The Holyoke Enterprise will be finishing its list of 2022’s top articles, chosen by Editor Andrew Turck with input from the newspaper staff. Stories are ordered by date, from earliest to latest. The first five may be found in the paper’s Dec. 28 issue.
Included inside will be memorable photos taken from July to December 2022.
6. “Bravery under fire / Hardie Richards’ Purple Heart reflects his love of country” (April 20)
When The Enterprise interviewed Hardie Richards, then 95, he still carried shrapnel in his shoulder from an injury sustained during the Korean War. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps twice: once at age 18 and the second time at 22. He died before the year’s end on July 21.
At Richards’ first deployment as a marine, during World War II, the U.S. sent him and other soldiers aboard a ship to serve as reinforments for the invasion of Japan.
“Then they dropped the A-bomb,” Richards said. “I don’t think very many knew anything about the atom bomb. After they dropped it, they knew it was a very dangerous weapon.”
Soon after the drops on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered Sept. 2, 1945. Richards’ ship returned him to Guam.
His second deployment as a marine began in 1950; that year, he celebrated Christmas in Japan, now in the process of reconstruction. The Korean conflict had begun and, in Richards’ words, “Everywhere they could get a man, they got him.”
A battle between the South and North Koreans became fraught as the U.S. joined the South side, and China and the Soviet Union the North.
This time, holding the rank of staff sergeant, Richards served as section leader of a machine gun crew, overseeing between 25 and 30 other men. While fighting a “stiff battle” with guerillas in the mountains, he said, an artillery blast sent shrapnel through his body and out his back. The enemy began to fall back, but despite his gunner’s prodding, Richards was in no shape to pursue.
“I remember what I told him, which was, ‘I can’t move,’ which I couldn’t,” Richards said. After soldiers carried him down the mountain he became one of the first men rescued by helicopter.
Ten months later, and now out of a hospital in Hawaii, he returned home to Vera, Texas, and received a Purple Heart for his service. He worked as a farmer and rancher with his parents, then went to school at Oklahoma A&M to become an animal nutritionist. He and his “best friend” – his wife, Betty – had three sons and were married for nearly 65 years.