PFC Rene Joseph Richard

courtesy of C. Giano

PFC Rene Joseph Richard was born 10 Oct 1920 in Rumford, Maine. He was the 5th of the 14 children (8 daughters and 6 sons) born to Camille J. and Leonie Marie (Thibodeau) Richard. Both parents were natives of New Brunswick Province, Canada. His father worked in a paper mill in the Rumford and reported a 1939 income of $1400, pretty good for the time, and he rented the family residence on Middle Avenue in Mexico, Maine for $23 a month. He had only completed 2-years of high school when Rene began to work at the paper mill in 1940.

Rene was drafted in December 1942. After he completed his basic military training he was sent to England and assigned to F Company 116th Infantry. He would have trained with the unit for the planned amphibious landings on the coast of Normandy, France and did take part in that assault on 6 Jun 1944. PFC Richard continued to fight with the unit until he was injured (a non-battle casualty) and evacuated to hospital. It must not have been too serious because he returned to the unit for duty on 11 Aug 1944. PFC Richard was killed in action on 5 Sep 1944 in the attack on Brest, France.

PFC Richard rests forever in the Brittany American Cemetery.