Born: September 19, 1925
Died: September 27, 1978
Campaigns Served: Saipan (wounded)
Highest Rank Attained: Corporal
Decorations: Purple Heart
Richard Dues was born in Ohio in 1925. His father, Aloysius, died in 1928; Richard lived with his maternal grandparents until his mother, Lillian Vogel, remarried. Dues enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of eighteen, trained at MCRD San Diego and Camp Elliott, and joined Company A of the 24th Marines in the spring of 1944.
Dues with an admittedly reluctant looking hula girl, 1944.
PFC Dues was assigned to one of the company's rifle platoons as a messenger. He spent his months at Camp Maui training with the company and going on liberty with his friend Bernard Elissagaray, who had joined the company around the same time.
Dues (left) with Bernard Elissagaray, 1944.
Dues was wounded on June 15, 1944, within hours of landing on Saipan. He was evacuated, and transferred to the care of Naval Hospital #10 on July 10.
Richard Dues never returned to the company; he was eventually discharged as a corporal. He returned to Ohio after the war, and died in the Dayton VA Medical Centery in 1978.
Dues and Elissagaray after their discharge from hospital.
Richard Dues is buried in Saint Mary Cemetery, Fort Recovery, Ohio.
Photo by Tracy Clark, FindAGrave.com volunteer.