Early Life and Career
Richmond was born in Waterloo, Iowa and moved to Northern Virginia with his family at the age of ten. After receiving a high school certificate from Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, he entered the College of Engineering at The George Washington University at the age of 16 in 1918 and graduated in 1922, the same year he was appointed as a cadet at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. While a student at George Washington University, he was employed at the United States Naval Observatory. Upon graduating from the Academy in 1924, with senior man honors, he was commissioned as an Ensign and served as an aide to Commandant Frederick C. Billard until 1926, when he was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade) and appointed to the Coast Guard Academy staff. Prior to World War II, he also served aboard a Coast Guard cutter in the Arctic region. During the war, he served as commander of a Coast Guard cutter assigned to convoy duty in the northern Pacific Ocean, and was later transferred to London, where he served as senior Coast Guard officer on the command staff of the US Navy forces in Europe, where he helped coordinate the D-Day invasion. In recognition of his efforts, he received the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
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