Second Lieutenant Richard J Larkin was born July 21, 1919, southeast of Marion, Kansas. His parents were James Thomas and Margaret Osban Larkin. He had one sister.

Richard graduated from Marion High School in the Class of 1938. He played in the band, pep band and was a theatrical stagehand. He worked at the city waterworks and filtration plant from 1935 to 1941. He was a baptized member of the Marion Evangelical Church.

Richard entered military service on February 21, 1941. He served as an enlisted man until he was approved as an Aviation Cadet. He was trained as a bombardier on B-17 aircraft and graduated in Class 43-01 from Bombardier School at Kirtland AAF, New Mexico. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the 339 Bomb Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group operating out of Snetterton, England. He successfully completed 5 raids over Germany in 1943 and earned the Army Medal.

On September 15, 1943, he was chosen as a crew member to participate in Group Mission #38, a bombing raid on industrial targets in Paris/Hispano, France. The other fight members aboard #42-30493 that day were Pilot 2Lt Cecil V Reed, Co-Pilot 2Lt L.S. Garner, Navigator 1Lt F.A. Klay, Engineer/Tail Gunner TSgt H.L. Hardy, Radio Operator TSgt Edgar R Smith, and Gunners SSgt H.A. Wampler, SSgt R.A. McLeod, SSgt T.L. Badger, and SSgt P.M. Saireman. The B-17 was shot down by either flak or German fighter FW-190 causing it to crash and killing all aboard except TSgt Edgar R Smith. TSgt Smith was captured by the Germans and was a POW the rest of the war.

A photo on a French postcard shows Parisians fixing a flower arrangement on a group of graves dedicated to Allied soldiers. The names on these graves match the names of Richard Larkin’s crew mates. The sign above the graves reads, "To our Friends-Britons-Americans-who died for this country-as a mark of Friendship and Recognition". 2Lt Richard Larkin was eventually buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in St Avold, France. A cenotaph was placed in Marion Highland Cemetery in Marion, Kansas. He was survived by his mother, father, and sister.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by”.

Sources:

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census and 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Ancestry.com. WWII Draft Registration Cards [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Marion County Review/Record Newspaper

FindaGrave.com

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132412778/richard-james-larkin

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56657461/richard-james-larkin

SBTSProject/Kansas/Marion

Larkin, Richard J., 2nd Lt