A battle, crash landing, and will to survive is a war story to remember and retell
Today is Veterans Day, a day honoring the service of those in the armed forces and celebrated with parades nationwide. According to the U.S. Census, there are more than 550,000 veterans in Illinois — all with their own story to share.
Robert "Bob" Richardson, a 99-year-old Springfield resident, perhaps has one of the most interesting stories from his time in World War II. A tail gunner aboard a TBM-3E Avenger torpedo bomber, he scoured the skies during the Battle of Okinawa — the largest armed conflict of the Pacific Theater and a nearly three-month-long military excursion in the spring of 1945.
The battle concluded nearly 80 years ago but remains present as ever in the mind of the local Navy veteran. Back in April 1945, Richardson was a 21-year-old tail gunner with two other men flying over Japanese territory. When their engine was struck by an enemy shell, little time remained for a plan to be devised.
"You never think you'll be involved in something like that," Richardson said in an interview at his Springfield residence.
Quick thinking from the trio saw them attempt a water landing and succeed. Richardson recalled the rounded underbelly of the plane and the goal of avoiding capture made this the best decision at the time, as the crew swiftly worked to inflate an emergency raft.
One of the crew had radioed an aircraft carrier that they were crashing as they made their descent into the water, which would eventually pick up the three after a few hours on the float. He would eventually receive an Air Medal for his service before being honorably discharged at the Great Lakes Naval Base.
Richardson was among the 94 central Illinois veterans who took part in the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight on Nov. 1. While the sole World War II veteran on the flight, he was joined by his son, Kent, on the 737 aircraft which departed from Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport and landed in Washington D.C.
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Kent Richardson, one of Bob's two sons, said it had long been a wish of his to take the journey with his father after years of being on the waitlist. Land of Lincoln Honor Flights closed operations down for 30 months amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but once they reopened, he made sure to apply.
It was an early start and late night conclusion for the near 1,600-mile long journey, where veterans and those accompanying them visited World War II, Korean and Vietnam War memorials, as well as Arlington National Cemetery Tomb of the Unknowns, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial and the U.S. Air Force Memorial.
Still, compared to Bob Richardson's journey back home from the South China Sea, this one was much more swift. After weekslong periods of waiting in Hawaii and California, he took a train toward Chicago and made his way back home to Springfield via the Abraham Lincoln passenger train on Christmas Day.
"I guess I was sort of the Christmas gift that year," Richardson reflected.
Ready to enlist
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 took place when Richardson was an 18-year-old student at Illinois State University. Right then, he wanted to enlist but was met with some resistance from his mother back home in Springfield.
"Most people thought the war would be short," he remembered. "They thought by the time I went through training that the war would be over."
At the time, the draft age was 21 but that would change soon after to 18 once a greater need for U.S. involvement was revealed and thoughts of quick war were promptly dashed. According to the Illinois Secretary of State's Office, more than 1.9 million Illinois men registered between the ages of 18 and 38 by the end of 1945.
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Richardson was one of the 957,854 men from the state called to serve, yet to unlike most at the time and to his own fortune he went the Navy route. Originally wishing to be enlisted as a Navy pilot, he was drafted in March 1943 before training at varying schools in Tennessee, Florida, Seattle and Hawaii.
He projects he had anywhere from 45 to 60 missions during his time overseas and was soon back in the skies after being shot down in Okinawa.
"It was probably better for us to go back out than to wait after getting shot down," Richardson said. "They had extra planes because they knew we would need them."
As the years pass, there are fewer and fewer living members of the “the Greatest Generation,” Americans who survived the Great Depression as children and rallied together to win WWII. This makes the need for WWII veterans to share their stories even greater, he said.
"These stories should be remembered," he said, after showing a booklet of period pictures of his aircraft, him in uniform and his honorable discharge.
Upon returning to Springfield, Richardson worked for 36 years at a local telephone company before retiring in 1982. He has lived in the city since he was 7 years old after moving during the Great Depression. He has two children, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren split between central Illinois and Denver.
Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Remembering the veterans: Local Navy tail gunner remembers WW2 service
