US Navy 3rd Class Fireman Thomas Louis Richards has little written information available as to his parentage or upbringing. His records with the War Department indicates a home address of next of kin as Claude Richards of Route 1, Pensacola in 1942. There is a Claude Richards living at Rt. 1 Interarity Point, Florida during that period of time. That particular Claude was the father of Francis Claude Richards (1920-2011) who married Thelma Gandy, daughter of Hamp Gandy. However, there is no conclusive proof that this is his father.
We do know that Thomas Louis Richards from Pensacola enlisted in the US Navy on January 18, 1942, and was sent to Birmingham, Alabama for processing. Due to the critical situation in the South Pacific at this point of the war, many of the Navy personnel received little training before being shipped out to the fleet.
Thomas was assigned to the cruiser (CA-39) USS Quincy and boarded her on April 10, 1942. By July 16th, he had already been promoted to 3rd Class Fireman. Sometime after May 14th, the ship received an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard with completions wrapped up by May 31st. This is where Thomas would most likely have joined the ship's crew as they sailed for San Diego on June 5th. After arriving, the captain was notified that his ship would be the flagship of Task Force #18 under the command of Rear Admiral Norman R. Scott. They sailed for the South Pacific in July to join the invasion of Guadalcanal. Her job was to destroy enemy shore installations and provide fire support for the Marines ashore.
However, on the night of August 8 the Japanese sent a large task force of seven cruisers and a destroyer to interrupt the landing and reestablish their control over Guadalcanal. Opposing them were eight American cruisers and 15 destroyers. However, the Americans were divided into three groups, totally separate from one another. The Japanese attack struck the northernmost group comprised of the cruisers Astoria, Vincennes, and the Quincy.
On the night of August 9th, this enemy force hit them at 0150 hours and a tremendous firefight ensued. The Astoria was shot to pieces by 0255 hours and lay dead in the water, totally vulnerable to total destruction by the Japanese. The Quincy's captain ordered his crew to open on the Japanese but they were caught unprepared to return fire. Suddenly, she was caught in the crossfire of three heavy Japanese cruisers who poured round after round into her setting her ablaze. The captain ordered the Quincy to charge the enemy but was then hit by two torpedoes. At 0210, a shell wiped out the Quincy's captain and his bridge crew. Another torpedo slammed into her at 0216 as the ship's guns were silenced along with 370 of her crew. She sank at 0230 hours taking Pensacolians Thomas Louis Richards and Arthur Pete to their grave 2,000 feet below.
The USS Quincy was discovered in July 1992, and they found her bow missing forward of her #1 turret. One gun on #1 was jammed and one on #2 had exploded. As expected, the bridge was heavily damaged but intact and both funnels were missing. The ship's stern was bent upwards aft of the #3 turret and heavily damaged by implosions.
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