Harvey Richart
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Harvey Richart served in the Army during World War II He joined the Army on October 10, 1941 and was trained at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
He was sent to an engineering unit at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He was in Alexandria, Virginia, on the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
Mr. Richart was assigned to the 11th Combat Engineers and served in Europe in the rankof T-3. He was discharged on December 22, 1945.
Mr. Richart’s was decorated with the: Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle East Campaign Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and five Overseas Service bars.
He was born in 1917, the son of Bob and Marie (Holten) Richart.
Source: Veterans’ Memorial Hall veteran history form; veteran’s account (below); original entry on VMH website (below)
“Where I Was on December 7th, 1941” “I was drafted, then sworn in on October 10, 1941. I stayed at Fort Snelling for three weeks and found out I would be going into the engineering unit to train at Fort Belvoir, Washington, D.C. My sister was hired though the Civil Service and was working in D.C. at the time.
“On December 7th, I met my sister in Alexandria, Virginia, at the U.S.O. for dinner. As we were waiting to order, everything quieted, with all attention to the radio announcement that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. All personnel were to report promptly to their units.
“At our post on the parade field, President Roosevelt came over the loudspeaker on December 8th with his famous speech declaring we were at a state of war with the Empire of Japan.
“By January 10th, our unit was trained and first sent to Panama. We were later sent to the Atlantic side of the war.”
