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Richmond, Edward A.
Edward A. Richmond U.S. Coast Guard WWII
Edward A. Richmond U.S. Coast Guard WWII
  
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Date of Birth: 5/4/1894
Died On: 1/2/1990 Hopkinton, Washington County, Rhode Island
Street Address: Rockridge Road
Service Number: unknown
Branch of Service: U.S. Coast Guard-WWII


Veteran Code: USCG-18


BIOGRAPHY Extended Information
 
Edward Allen Richmond

Edward Allen Richmond was born on May 4, 1894, in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, to Sarah Frances Chipman and Charles N Richmond. He was raised and educated in Yonkers, NY and a graduate of Yonkers High School.

Edmond enlisted and served in the U.S. Navy during WWI. It was then he developed a love for ships and the sea.

My uncle Edward, was another remarkable self-made man who, from only a Yonkers High School education, ended up as a US Coast Guard Captain when he retired in the 1950s. That was a period of many self-made men and a smaller elitist group of well-educated scions of wealth. He served in the Navy during the First World War as a lowly enlisted man, known as a "gob" or "swabbie" on board a battleship anchored in New York harbor. He loved the ocean, sea life and travel, so he went to work on the tug boats after the war, and was encouraged to take mariner's course work and exams. He eventually became a master mariner and later a Captain with the US Lines and then the Coast Guard. He ended up as serving as Captain on the SS Manhattan and the SS Washington of the US Lines.
Interview with Dr. Howell Osborne Archard on May 12, 2011,

Edward married Harriet Mildred Balcom on November 4, 1931, in Manhattan, New York. In Rye the couple lived on Rockridge Road.

Edward would continue his life as a mariner with the US Lines. In 1940 he was the executive officer on the SS America, at the time the largest passenger ship ever built in the US.

He would enlist and serve as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. Edward was captain of a merchant ship SS Quaker City which was torpedoed in the Caribbean on May 18, 1942. SS Quaker City torpedoed by U-156 about 300 miles east of Barbados. The torpedo struck in the stern near the waterline and caused the ship to sink in ten minutes.

The torpedo struck at 4:30 A.M. and killed ten of the crew, who were in their bunks aft. Four lifeboats were launched in four minutes and three minutes later the ship went down. The boats remained at the scene for some time searching for other survivors. The 30 survivors steered for Barbados in the four boats and remained in sight of each other for some time. Another boat with six men reached Barbados and a third, with seven aboard, arrived at Trinidad. The fourth boat, which contained two injured men among CAPTAIN E. A RICHMOND others. is being awaited at Barbados.
Yonkers The Herald Statesman 1942 May 27

He would later serve in the War Shipping Administration's Maritime Division in Washington DC. The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a U.S. emergency war agency established during World War II to operate and control virtually all American-flagged civilian ocean vessels for the war effort.

Mrs. Edward A. Richmond of Rockridge Road, has gone to Arlington, Va. , to join Commander Edward A. Richmond, U. S. C. G. , now stationed in Washington. They have an apartment in Arlington and will remain for the duration.
PAGE TWELVE THE RYE CHRONICLE Friday, March 2, 1945

After the war, Edward continued with the US Coast Guard and would retire in the 1950's. His wife Harriet passed away in Walnut Creek, CA in June of 1983.

Edward Allen Richmond died on January 2, 1990, at the age of 95, and was buried in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.









https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89067265/marriage-...
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