US Army General.

A combat veteran of World Wars I and II, he rose in rank to become Commander, US Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. After completing high school, he received an appointment to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in 1904 with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the US Cavalry. He was sent to the Philippines where he joined the 14th US Cavalry and saw combat action during the Philippine Insurrection against the Moros tribesman and was wounded at Cotta Usap. In October 1905 he returned to the US and assigned with the 14th Cavalry at the Presidio in San Francisco, California where he assisted in the relief effort of the 1906 Earthquake. In October of that year he returned to West Point and became the Assistant Instructor of Modern Languages until August 1911 when he returned to the Philippines as part of the 14th Cavalry at Camp Stotsenburg. Following an assignment to the 23rd Infantry in Texas, he returned to West Point in March 1914 and became an Assistant Professor of English. In June 1917, after the US entered World War I, he was assigned to the 2nd US Cavalry at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont and the following month he became the Aide de Camp to Major General T.H. Barry, commander of the US Army Central Department in Chicago, Illinois. He accompanied him to France in December 1917 and the following June he was assigned to the Operations Division of the General Staff, American Expeditionary Force. He saw action at the St. Mihel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives in late 1918 and remained in Europe, serving in various positions, until he returned to the US in June 1919. After several headquarters tours in Washington DC he returned to the Philippines in January 1921 as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations. In April 1923 he returned to the US and attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The following June he was sent to Paris, France to attend the Ecole Superieure de Guerre and three months later he served as a military attaché in Rome, Italy. He returned to the US in March 1928 and was assigned to the 13th Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas. In August 1928 he returned to West Point again, as Commanding Officer, Provisional Battalion and Executive Officer until March 1929 when he became the Commandant of Cadets and Head of Department of Tactics. After attending the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department General Staff in Washington DC, followed by an assignment as commander of the 5th US Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas. By June 1938 he had been promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas until February 1939 when he became Commandant of the US Cavalry School at Fort Riley. In November 1940 he became Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division at El Paso, Texas. In April 1941 he returned to Washington DC as the Director, Bureau of Public Relations for three months and in August he became Commanding General of the US Army 7th Corps. Following the US entry into World War II in December 1941, he was dispatched to the Pacific Theater by US Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to assess the capabilities and report on the status of the American forces there. In June 1943 he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general and became the Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department, US Army Forces Pacific, and Military Governor of Hawaii, and oversaw the US military planning, preparation, training, and force deployments that would lead to victory over Japan. In June 1944 he was permanently promoted to the rank of major general and assigned as Commander, US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Area and later became Commander, US Army Forces, Middle Pacific. He retired in that position In October 1946 with 42 years of continuous military service, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on the retired list. Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal (with three campaign stars), the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the French Legion of Honor (Officer), the Belgian Order of Leopold (Officer), the Italian Order of S. Maurice and St. Lazarus (Officer), the French Croix de guerre (with palm), and the Panamanian Medal of Solidarity (1918, 2nd class. He died suddenly while vacationing in Italy at the age of 71 . In July 1954 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of general by a Special Act of Congress. While a captain at West Point, he wrote and had published "West Point - An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy" (1917). His son, Robert Charlwood Richardson III, became a brigadier general in the US Air Force. (bio by:William Bjornstad)

Robert Charlwood Richardson Jr