ARPress

George Richardson was born in 1920 on a farm in Indiana to William and Ruby Richardson. Growing up he worked hard on his fathers farm with his three younger brothers, and became close to his grandfather, Homer Richardson. Homer would share stories he’d witnessed as a drummer boy in the Western Campaign under General Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War.Homer’s father, uncles, and grandfather all served during the Civil War. His father James Bailey Richardson served in the Cavalry, and his grandfather Alexander, and one of his uncles, Ed, were stationed at Fort Donelson.George was inspired by his grandfather’s stories and served in the U.S. Army during WWII. While he was stationed in North Africa, his company was in pursuit of German General Rommel, “The Desert Fox”. After he was promoted to Staff Sergeant he was a crew chief over airplane maintenance and he had the distinction of working on President Roosevelt’s plane at the Yalta Conference and saw Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt all together.After the war he married Eleanor Morgensen. Together they had three children. Eleanor knew how much George treasured Homer’s stories, so she encouraged him to write a book about them. It would have fictional characters with true events using Homers’ stories, and George did research on the Civil War to fill any gaps.In 1976 George became ill with two acute types of Leukemia. On his deathbed he asked his daughter Ramona to rewrite it. He died at age 56.