US Army Air Corps WWII



July 8, 1920

April 16, 1944



REMAINS OF WWII AIRMEN RETURNED HOME AFTER 63 YEARS.



Tech. Sgt. Richard Ransom Sargent, age 23 of North Girard (Now Lake City).



On April 16, 1944 a B-24 Liberator crewed by airmen, including Engineer Sargent, was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia. The Liberator was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome in Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines.



In 2001, the US Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, (JPAC), that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province. Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found wreckage and remains of the Airmen who were aboard the Liberator named “Here Tis”



Richard was born in Erie, July 8, 1920 the Middle son of the late James Thomas and Lorena Ransom Sargent. With the death of his father in 1929, Richard moved with his mother. Lorena and two brothers, Ross and Keith to North Girard, now known as Lake City. He graduated from Girard’s Rice Avenue Union High School.



As America was at War, Richard enlisted in the United States Army following one year of college and joined the Army Air Corps. From September through December of 1942, he was at Air Corps technical School, Keesler Field, Mississippi (outside Biloxi). By January of 1943, he was then sent to Albuquerque, NM, on to Roswell, NM. From there, his next stop was Las Vegas, NV. In September of 1943, Richard had earned his Sergeant’s stripes and was stationed with the 604th Bomb Squadron at Wendover Field in Wendover, Utah. In December of 1943, he was deployed overseas.



Richard Sargent was preceded in death by his older brother, James “Ross” Sargent, who died in 1959, his mother, Lorena in 1971, stepfather, Sumner Sargent in 1977, and younger brother, Myron “Keith” Sargent who died in 2001. Robert E. “Bud” Sargent who died in 2005.



He is survived by a brother, Donald J. Sargent and his wife Joyce of Lake City; several nieces and nephews including, Nancy Sargent Donald, her husband Larry, their three sons and families of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Kathy Sargent Davis, her husband Bob and their children and families of Saegertown; Richard T. Sargent and his wife Terrie and their children and families of Florida, and Edward Sargent, his sisters, Eileen Sargent, and Pam Buman and her children, Alan Sargent and his wife, Judy.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday July 7, 2007 at Daniel R. Edder Funeral home, 309 Main St. East, Girard at 11 AM, Rev. Robert T. Burke and Dr. Rev. Donald Baxter officiating.

Burial with full military honors will be in the Girard Cemetery.