STEVE RICHARDSON
1940-03-22 1965-11-30
THE WALL OF FACES
HONORED ON PANEL 3E, LINE 118 OF THE WALL
STEPHEN GOULD RICHARDSON RANK LTJG
WALL NAME STEPHEN G RICHARDSON
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/43315/STEPHEN-G-RICHARDSON/
Lieutenant Junior Grade Stephen Gould Richardson, who joined the U.S. Navy from Washington, served with Fighter Squadron 53 aboard the USS Ticonderoga (CVA 14). On November 30, 1965, he piloted a single-seat F-8E Crusader (bureau number 149176, call sign "Firefighter 229") on a combat patrol mission. While returning to the Ticonderoga, in the vicinity of (GC) 49Q BU 590 750 in the South China Sea, the hook shank on LTJG Richardson's Crusader broke, causing the aircraft to crash in the water 200 feet forward of the ship. The deck crew saw no attempt from LTJG Richardson to eject from the aircraft before it crashed, and immediate searches found no sign of LTJG Richardson or his remains. Further attempts to locate him were unsuccessful. Today, Lieutenant Junior Grade Richardson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/r/r366.htm
Steve and I were born one month apart and grew up together in the Laurelhurst area of Seattle. We went to school together from grade school through College at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, just south of Portland. We were also fraternity brothers (Theta Chi) and for a couple of years roomed next to each other. Steve was a great guy and always a lot of fun. I remember one time while at college Steve was going to return his fathers Jaguar coup to Seattle after borrowing it for a few days. Steve asked if I wanted to ride home to Seattle with him and I said great. We left after midnight and headed north. Steve was a great driver and even when he was driving extremely fast you always felt safe. After getting on the road Steve settled in and we were cruising at close to 100 miles an hour. As we passed through the small town of Newburg, Oregon, at over 100 miles an hour, we were spotted by the police who finally caught up to us and pulled us over. There was no issuing of tickets or a lot of discussion by the policeman who pulled us over; he just said to follow him. We preceded to the Newburg court house where the judge greeted us, issued a ticket and a fine quite a bit greater than our speedometer reading. We settled up and were shortly on our way again. Typical of Steve, it was not too long after leaving the court house that we were once again cruising at over 100! Steve and I lost contact after college. He went to Navy flight school (which seemed appropriate based on his automobile driving record) and I went into the Coast Guard Officer Candidate program in Yorktown, Virginia. The next time I had contact with Steve was my last. I attended his funeral after he had crashed his plane in Vietnam, military records show he was 100 miles east of the DMZ. Seattle Times wrote that his plane crashed in the sea while trying to land on the carrier Ticonderoga; he was never found. He was a wonderful friend and we had a good time growing up together. He is missed.
tribute by Steve GreySteve was one of my oldest friends from kindergarten until he died. We kept in touch through college and he was an usher at my wedding August 19, 1962. Steve was one of the wittiest, funniest people I have ever known. He would come up with stuff off the wall. I remember driving down a rural road in his MG-TC when a large bug splattered on the windshield. Steve looked at me and said, "You know, it took guts to do that." I laugh at that one today. I miss him and finally got a rubbing of his name off of the Viet Nam Memorial Wall.
tribute by Steve Straight