Hugh Anthony Richeson – Brigadier General, United States Army

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Monday, December 11, 2006

Hugh Anthony Richeson, 89, a retired Brigadier General in the Army who served in three wars, died after a heart attack November 20, 2006, at the Gardens at Fair Oaks assisted living community in Fairfax County, Virginia.

General Richeson, whose last active-duty assignment was as commanding general of the U.S. Army in Japan, served as an ordnance officer in the South Pacific during World War II and participated in the New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon and Ryukyu Islands campaigns.

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In Korea in 1953, he commanded the 67th Ordnance Battalion of the Far East Command. He was working in the Pentagon office of the director of logistics for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Cuban missile crisis. Promoted to brigadier general in 1967, he went to Vietnam in May 1969 as deputy commanding general and later commanding general of the U.S. First Logistical Command in South Vietnam, which directed logistical support of all Army personnel in the country. He supervised about 70,000 soldiers and civilians.

The following year, he was sent to Japan. He retired in 1972.

General Richeson, who had lived in Fairfax, Virginia, since 1977, was a member of Fairfax United Methodist Church and enjoyed golf, hunting and bridge, as well as visiting his family homestead in Amherst County, Virginia.

He was born in Amherst, Virignia, and graduated from Virginia Tech. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps and called to active duty June 28, 1941.

After World War II, he received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan in 1949, then was assigned for a year to U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh for training in private industry. He graduated from the ordnance officers’ advanced course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in 1953, the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1957 and the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1959.

His assignments included several stints at the Pentagon and two years in the mid-1960s in Germany, where he led the Army’s Advanced Weapons Support Command, responsible for the logistical support of all missiles and special weapons for the Army in Europe.

Among his military awards were the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal.

His wife of 58 years, Evelyn Burford Richeson, died in 2000.

Survivors include three children, Mary Kay Wenk of Arlington County, Hugh A. Richeson of Clearwater, Florida, and William E. Richeson of Grand Ledge, Michigan; a sister; 13 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

HUGH ANTHONY RICHESON, of Fairfax, Virginia, born August 13, 1917 in Amherst, Virginia, died Monday, November 20, 2006 of cardiac arrest at The Gardens of Fair Oaks in Fairfax, Virignia. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 58 years, Evelyn Burford Richeson and siblings, Mildred Richeson Lamanna, W. Henley Richeson, Jr., and Ramey Richeson all of Amherst, Virginia.

He graduated from Amherst County High School, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and received his MBA from the University of Michigan. He was a career military officer and served in the Pacific during World War II, in the Korean War, and in the Vietnam War. Prior to retiring in 1972 his last assignment was as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Japan.

He is survived by his daughter, Mary Kay Wenk (Dr. Walter R. Wenk, Jr.,) of Arlington, Virignia; a son, Hugh A. Richeson, Jr. Esq. (Melissa Baum Richeson) of Clearwater, Florida; a son, William E. Richeson (Deanna Rose Richeson) of Grand Ledge, Michigan; a sister, Sarah Gordon of Lynchburg, Virginia; 11 grandchildren; two step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

 Interment with Full Military Honors in Arlington National Cemetery on Friday, January 19, 2007 after 11 a.m. memorial service at Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, Virginia.

Reception following at Fort Myer Officers Club. Family and friends are requested to assemble at the chapel by 10:30 a.m. and should enter Arlington Cemetery through the Memorial Bridge entrance. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made in his name to the American Heart Association, PO Box 5216, Glen Allen, Virginia 23058-5216.

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