Dad loved radio and electronics. When he was about 16 he obtained his ham radio license and call sign, W6OFZ. A few years later, prior to and during the first months of World War II, he turned his hobby into a profession and served as a radio officer in the Merchant Marine sailing on old steamers down to South America and back. He was only 19. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army and after extensive technical training was stationed on Guam, working with very high power strategic level radio communications. After the war, he served in the Army Reserve, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Signal Corps, in 1951. His annual two week Reserve tours took him down to White Sands Missile Range or Fort Huachucha where he worked on technical projects for the Army. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1968.
In civil life, after the war, he was an electrical engineer and physicist, and worked for several engineering companies in the Los Angeles area, including Aerojet General, where he worked on or managed numerous technically advanced civil, military, and space related projects. He is credited as the inventor on two U.S. patents.
In the late 1940's he assisted in the development a little device called a "Radio Snack Bar". It could cook small amounts of food, like a hot dog, in about 30 seconds. It was not successful -- it wasn't eye-catching and at that time no one seemed interested in something that could cook a hot dog in half a minute. It seemed that there was no future in it.
He and mom were married in Los Angeles on December 6, 1947. They had two children:
1) J Richards (b. 1952)
2) H Richards (b. 1955)
Dad loved radio and electronics. When he was about 16 he obtained his ham radio license and call sign, W6OFZ. A few years later, prior to and during the first months of World War II, he turned his hobby into a profession and served as a radio officer in the Merchant Marine sailing on old steamers down to South America and back. He was only 19. In 1943, he enlisted in the Army and after extensive technical training was stationed on Guam, working with very high power strategic level radio communications. After the war, he served in the Army Reserve, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Signal Corps, in 1951. His annual two week Reserve tours took him down to White Sands Missile Range or Fort Huachucha where he worked on technical projects for the Army. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1968.
In civil life, after the war, he was an electrical engineer and physicist, and worked for several engineering companies in the Los Angeles area, including Aerojet General, where he worked on or managed numerous technically advanced civil, military, and space related projects. He is credited as the inventor on two U.S. patents.
In the late 1940's he assisted in the development a little device called a "Radio Snack Bar". It could cook small amounts of food, like a hot dog, in about 30 seconds. It was not successful -- it wasn't eye-catching and at that time no one seemed interested in something that could cook a hot dog in half a minute. It seemed that there was no future in it.
He and mom were married in Los Angeles on December 6, 1947. They had two children:
1) J Richards (b. 1952)
2) H Richards (b. 1955)
Inscription
LT COL US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
BELOVED HUSBAND & FATHER
SOLDIER & SCIENTIST 88
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