A Sense of Stability and Security

By Lauren Perry

Richard E. Hawkins

May 25, 1925-February 17, 2016

---

[34]

The military, for Richard Hawkins, was more than just service. It was his life-long career, his home, and his family as well as a comforting sense of stability and security. From his enlistment with his brother, to his military marriage, to his daughter’s enlistment in the Navy, and his use of the GI Bill to get an education, Richard’s life revolved around the military.[1]

Richard Hawkins was born May 25, 1925 to Richard and Blanche Hawkins, an Irish immigrant family, living in a segregated, Irish neighborhood in Chicago.[2] Chicago was the fourth largest Irish city in America, and Irish neighborhoods remained segregated throughout the 1950’s and 60’s.[3] Blanche Hawkins died when Richard was just four years old and as a result Richard and his little brother William spent much of their childhood with aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Richard never had much money or stability in his younger years, and as a result, both he and his brother decided to join the military.[4]

In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Richard enlisted in the US Army and served as a machine gunner in Europe during World War II.[5] Most of his infantry and army training revolved around machine guns. Used by armies during the First World War, machine guns dramatically altered how wars were fought.[6] Instead of mass charges on the enemy, warfare became more strategic. Smaller groups of soldiers rushed towards the enemy while being covered by the men behind them.[7]

Richard fought at the Battle of the Bulge, one of the deadliest battles in World War II. Beginning mid-December 1944, German armies launched an offensive in the Ardennes Mountains. Many men died from lack of sufficient resources and the cold.[8] Richard told stories about how he had to sleep in flooded foxholes; mice would sleep in his hands, keeping both the mice and Richard’s hands warm.[9]

At the end of the war, he assisted in liberating the concentration and death camps.[10] As American and British troops moved across Europe, they came across many Nazi camps. Despite the Nazi’s attempts to hide the mass genocide that was occurring, almost all the camps remained intact and still held many prisoners.[11] He helped maintain a prison camp for German SS Officer’s after Germany’s surrender and before the Nuremburg Trials.[12] These trials tried German SS officers for war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were also the first step towards an international court.[13]

During the war, he met his wife, Sergeant Doris M. Letourneau.[14] Doris had enlisted in 1945 for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and served for the duration of World War II.[15] Members of the WAC were the first women to serve in the army who were not nurses. Although they were unable to receive the same ranks and pay as their male counterparts, they made significant contributions to the war as mechanics, weather forecasters, electricians, radio operators, and so much more.[16] Richard met Doris in an office and immediately ran to tell his friends that he had met the woman he was going to marry. With special permission (because Doris outranked Richard), the two were married four months later.[17]

Richard was honorably discharged from the Army in 1946 and almost immediately took up a position in the newly formed United States Air Force.[18] He was first stationed in Tucson, Arizona, and throughout his career, he was stationed in Japan, Florida, California, Florida again, Okinawa, back to California, Vietnam, California again, and finally Little Rock, Arkansas. He worked on flight lines as a mechanic, but once he began working in recreation, he never went back. As an athletic man, he loved to officiate sports for the on-base leagues as well as high school and college sports. He was an avid golfer and was a great boxer back in Chicago so the management of the golf courses and recreation centers were perfect for him.[19] The Hawkins’ first daughter, Pamela, was born in 1948.[20]

[35]

[36]

In 1952, Richard was stationed in Japan and ran the Officers and NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) clubs as well as the book entertainment among other duties.[21] Doris, now separated from the military, took 4-year-old Pamela aboard the USNS James O’Hara.[22] They landed in the port of Yokohama. The USNS James O’Hara was an attack transport that was originally created for Navy use in World War II. Her past passengers and crews were essential in several invasions in both Europe and the Pacific in the 1940’s. The Hawkins were aboard one of 18 deployments that brought military personnel and civilians to Japan in the 50’s.[23] In 1953, their daughter Terrie was born in California.[24]

[37]

Along with their youngest daughter Kathleen, the Hawkins family traveled across the western United States while Richard rose in the ranks of the Air Force until he was Chief Master Sergeant.[25] During the Vietnam War, Richard was stationed at Phan Rang Air Force Base, Vietnam.[26] This base was used by the Japanese in World War II and by the French during their control of Indochina in the 1950s. During the Vietnam War, however, it was an American Air Force base until the end of the war when it was taken by the Vietnamese.[27] When he was not on the front lines, Richard ran an R&R (rest and recuperation) camp that was frequently under fire.[28]

The Hawkins finally settled in the Denver area in 1975 after his retirement from the Air Force.[29] He was honorably discharged and forced to retire due to a thirty year service limit. He always wished he never had to retire. Richard helped co-found the E-9ers Association Colorado branch (and organization dedicated to fighting for veterans rights and benefits) and was heavily involved in the veteran community.[30] He took full advantage of the GI bill and earned his BA in 1981 from Metropolitan State College. He continued to officiate sports for local high schools and colleges.

[37]

He earned a total of eleven medals which include the Air Force Longevity medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the UN Service Medal, the Occupation Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and more. Richard was very proud of his service. It gave him security and a sense of belonging. He was loved and respected by officers and enlisted men alike. As his daughter, Kathy put it, “the only thing he loved as much as the service was golf and scotch.”[31]

CMSgt Richard Earl Hawkins died on February 17, 2016 at the age of 90.[32] His family donated his American Campaign medal from World War II, Korea Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and cuff links to the Honor Bell Foundation. His medals helped create a bell that now tolls at the funeral services of veterans buried at Fort Logan to give them one last farewell and to honor their service and sacrifice to our country.[33]

Footnotes ↓

[1] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[2] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037; “1930 United States Federal Census,” database, http://ancestry.com (accessed July 27, 2018), entry for Richard E. Hawkins; Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[3] Skerrett, Ellen. “Irish,” Encyclopedia of Chicago, (accessed August 14, 2018), http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/652.html

[4] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[5] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037

[6] C N Trueman "Machine Guns," historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 25 May 2015, (accessed August 4, 2018), https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/weapons-of-world-war-two/machine-guns/.

[7] "How did machine guns change the way battles were fought?" eNotes, 1 Dec. 2011, (accessed August 3, 2018), https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-did-tanks-machine-guns-change-way-battles-were-298782.

[8] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP. “Battle of the Bulge,” History.com, 2009, (accessed August 15, 2018), https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge

[9] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[10] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037

[11] “Liberators,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, (accessed August 3, 2018), https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/liberators#intro.

[12] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[13] “Nuremburg Trials,” History.com, 2010, (accessed August 15, 2018), https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nuremberg-trials.

[14] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037.

[15] “World War II Army Enlistment Records,” database, https://ancestry.com (accessed July 27, 2018), entry for Doris M. Letourneau.

[16] Bellafaire, Judith A. “The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service,” History.army.mil, (accessed August 15, 2018), https://history.army.mil/brochures/WAC/WAC.HTM.

[17] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[18] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037

[19] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[20] “Honolulu, Hawaii, Passenger and Crew Lists,” database, http://ancestry.com (accessed July 26, 2018). Entry for Pamela P. Hawkins.

[21] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[22] “Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, Passenger and Crew Lists of Airplane Departure,” database, http://ancestry.com (accessed July 27, 2018), entry for Doris M. Hawkins.

[23] “USS James O’Hara (APA-90), 1943-1968,” Department of the Navy—Naval Historical Center, 24 October 2005, (accessed August 3, 2018), https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-j/apa90.htm.

[24] “U.S. Public Records Index,” http://ancestry.com (accessed July 27, 2018), entry for Terrie F. Fulton.

[25] “CMSGT Richard Earl Hawkins,” www.findagrave.com (accessed July 26, 2018), entry for Richard E. Hawkins.

[26] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037

[27] “Phan Rang Air Base,” database, www.wikipedia.com (accessed August 14, 2018). Entry for Phan Rang Vietnam.

[28] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[29] “Richard Hawkins’ Honor Bell Artifacts,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 28, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/news/?offset=1462815900037

[30] Jack Hunter (Membership Director of the E-9er’s Association), email with Lauren Perry, July 27, 2018, DU VLP.

[31] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018, DU VLP.

[32] “CMSGT Richard Earl Hawkins,” www.findagrave.com (accessed July 26, 2018), entry for Richard E. Hawkins.

[33] “Freedom Must Still Ring,” The Honor Bell Foundation, (accessed July 24, 2018), https://www.honorbell.org/.

[34] Email with Michelle Mallin, July 17, 2018.

[35] Michelle Mallin

[36] Michelle Mallin

[37] Kathy Hawkins, Interview with Lauren Perry, August 10, 2018.

[38] Email with Jack Hunter, July 27, 2018.

More Stories