| Summary: | Military officer David F. Richards, Jr. was born on March 19, 1929, in Sedalia, Missouri. He attended public schools in Sedalia before enrolling in mortuary school in St. Louis, becoming a certified embalmer in 1951. He went on to attend Park College in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating in 1952 with his B.A. degree in business administration. He also earned his M.A. degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California in 1978. Richards joined the United States Army in 1946, and rose from private first class to Warrant Office 4 during his more than thirty years of service. Richards was the first African American Chief Warrant Officer inducted into the Parachute Rigger Warrant Officer's Hall of Fame, and was the only African American Chief Warrant Officer when he retired in 1983. As a member of the 1-75th Ranger Regiment, Richards conducted over 11,000 parachute operations, without incident.
|
|---|
