Richard Bertram Lucas
| NAME: Richard Bertram Lucas | NICKNAME: — | SERVICE NUMBER: 500673 | |||||
| HOME OF RECORD: 337 Burns Avenue, West Carrollton, OH | NEXT OF KIN: Parents, Harry & Lavada (Sharit) Lucas | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: 2/12/1923 | SERVICE DATES: 12/12/1942 – 3/28/1945 | DATE OF DEATH: 2/15/1982 | |||||
| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| Roi-Namur | HQ/1/24 | 745 | PFC | ||||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: — | LAST KNOWN RANK: Private First Class | ||||||
Richard Lucas was born in Dayton, Ohio, on 12 February 1923; he was the oldest of four children raised by Harry and Lavada (Sharit) Lucas. Harry supported the family with a job at a paper mill while the kids attended local schools; Richard went to Roosevelt High School and, once old enough to work, found employment with the National Cash Register Company.
Lucas registered for Selective Service in the summer of 1942, and opted to volunteer for the Marine Corps in December. He attended boot camp in San Diego, qualified as a rifle sharpshooter, and briefly attended motor transport school before landing in the First Battalion, 24th Marines in June 1943. PFC Lucas served as a rifleman with battalion headquarters for the next eight months, while training in California and in combat in the Marshall Islands.
After his first battle, Lucas was transferred from headquarters to Baker Company – presumably to put his rifleman skills to better use. Unfortunately, he either fell sick or was injured at Camp Maui in early May 1943, and was sent out of the battalion to the Fleet Marine Force Transient Center. He would serve at “TC FMF” for the rest of the year, helping maintain the center’s small vehicles as an automobile mechanic. Hospitalized again in December 1944, Lucas was subsequently transferred back to the United States and received a disability discharge on 28 March 1945.
“Luke” Lucas returned to Dayton after his discharge and married Eva Rice in August, 1945. After a rocky start – the pair filed for divorce in November that same year – they reconciled and spent seventeen years together, raising three children. Lucas worked in a factory until starting a job with the Dayton Police Department; he began as a vice squad patrolman in 1948, and retired after a career spanning nearly three decades.
In 1962, Richard and Eva divorced permanently. He later married Joan Snodgrass, a British-born divorcee, and became a stepfather to her six children. When he passed away in 1982, Lucas had a family of ten children and seventeen grandchildren.
Richard and Joan Lucas are buried in Davids Cemetery, Kettering, Ohio.
Do you have any other info on my Uncle Ricard B. Lucas than what is listed?