Honoring Our Veterans: Aaron Richman

Ed. Note: Memorial Day is a time when Americans commemorate the U.S. soldiers who gave their lives in defense of freedom.

A tradition dating back to the Civil War, Memorial Day honors the sacrifices these brave men and women made for a better nation. Perhaps there's no greater way to honor their memory than by reflecting on their service and recognizing those veterans who live among us.

With a sincere sense of gratitude, Patch would like to say "Thank You," to all the brave men and women who answered the call to serve with a special feature titled 'Honoring Our Veterans,' which will run daily at 5 p.m. during the week leading into Memorial Day 2011.

Today, we salute Aaron Richman.

Name: Aaron Richman

Branch: U.S. Army

Conflict: World War II

Post: Richman was a heavy weapons specialist trained on the 30 caliber water-cooled machine gun and 81mm mortars. An infantry replacement initially attached to the 69th Infantry Division, Richman would later be assigned to the machine gun section in a heavy weapons platoon of the 8th Division and fought in the First Army under General Hodges during the campaign that captured Cologne and the Ruhr pocket, which was one of the industrial parts of Germany. Richman was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained during a mortar attack at the 'Bulge' in January of 1945.

Reflections: "After basic training, I was shipped overseas to England sometime around December of 1943. I landed on Omaha Beach in 1944, a replacement soldier. When the Germans broke through at the [Battle of the] Bulge, I was sent to the front where I was wounded in the leg with shrapnel. But as bad as the war was, it was nothing like the ones we're involved in today ... We knew who our enemy was and what we had to do to defeat them ... the whole country was united."