{"id":55005,"date":"2019-12-26T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T15:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=55005"},"modified":"2024-05-13T11:33:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T15:33:42","slug":"military-hero-dick-russ-had-a-generous-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/military-hero-dick-russ-had-a-generous-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Military Hero Dick Russ Had a Generous Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry tells the story of Dick Russ, who made a generous Christmas gift as a six-year-old in 1930, and went on to serve his country with distinction in WWII <\/em>Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a><\/em>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was Christmas of 1930 and six-year-old Dick Russ made the papers. He marched into the San Francisco Chronicle <\/em>office with an old mayonnaise jar filled with pennies ($1.78) and 20 of his best marbles.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 19 December 1930, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He informed Betty Beecher of the Chronicle<\/em> that he wanted to help with the Christmas Basket Fund. \u201cGive \u2019em to some poor boy, will you?\u201d Dick told Betty with a warm smile and bright eyes.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 19 December 1930, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, the Chronicle<\/em> caught up with Dick 12 years later. It was 18 December 1942, just a day shy of when Dick made the news back in 1930. The reporter was informed Dick had once again marched into another office to serve a noble cause, and that was Uncle Sam\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 18 December 1942, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dick, still the enthusiast, admitted he fudged his age to the recruiting officer so that he could dash off to military training. His father thought it a bit impulsive but pardoned his fervent son. In fact, any father would appreciate a son who won his wings as a paratroop commando at 18 years old.<\/p>\n

When Dick was interviewed in 1942, he chuckled at the old photo of himself the paper had dug out of the archives. Dick had come a long way from that blonde, bright eyed youngster who trotted into the Chronicle\u2019s<\/em> office 12 years prior.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 18 December 1942, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dick had finished training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was home on a short stint before he was off to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to advanced paratroop school.<\/p>\n

There was more for Daddy Russ to admire in this son. Dick earned five medals for excellence with mortars, hand grenades, bayonets, and machine guns.<\/p>\n

The apple did not far from the tree. Dick\u2019s father Cecil Russ was an infantry captain during World War I, and his grandfather was a British Army officer in the Indian, African, and Zulu campaigns.<\/p>\n

It did not take long for Dick to get back in the spotlight of the San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>. In March 1943 Dick was sent overseas and landed in Sicily. According to the paper, the War Department telegraphed Dick\u2019s parents that Dick had been wounded on July 11.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 10 September 1943, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soon after Dick sent word and told his folks he had \u201ca couple of holes in his left arm,\u201d but \u201cwas happy to be alive.\u201d Dick also shared that a colonel dressed his wounds and gave him kudos for \u201csticking to his guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Richard \u201cDick\u201d Russ served his country with the same joyous attitude he possessed when he was a young lad giving his pennies to the poor. He was a Silver Star Recipient in the 504th Parachute Infantry.<\/p>\n

Wishing Joyful Tidings and A Peaceful New Year to all the Troops and Readers!<\/p>\n

Note:<\/em><\/strong> Just as an online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, told the stories of Dick Russ\u2019 life, they can tell you stories about your ancestors that can\u2019t be found anywhere else. Come look today and see what you can discover!<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Genealogy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Richard Warren Frederick Russ (1924-2003), son of Cecil Edward Fraser Russ (1888-1958) and Maude Evelyn (1887-1960).
\nHe married Nell Reals (1925-1983), daughter of Harry Reals and Ruth Rawls in North Carolina, 8 July 1949.
\nDick\u2019s siblings: Paul Hartley Russ (1911-1969) and Murielle Francis Russ (1915-1978), married to Lee Martin Allen (1912-1993).
\nDick is buried in Yountville, Napa County, California, USA Veterans Memorial Cemetery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Dick Russ, who made a generous Christmas gift in 1930, and went on to serve his country with distinction in WWII.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":55031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[49633,1130,2437],"class_list":["post-55005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-dick-russ","tag-veterans","tag-world-war-ii"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/photo-1226-2019-featured-graphic-dick-russ.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98973,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55005\/revisions\/98973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}