 Individual Deceased Personnel File. Courtesy of nephew Gary Northu |
Remember...Mikey Stanford Rickard
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Mikey Stanford Rickard was born January 9, 1917, in Maggie, Mason County, West Virginia, to C. B. Rickard and Ella Riley Rickard. Depending on whether one believes the 1920 Federal Census, where he is enumerated as Cyril B. Rickard, or Mikey's Find A Grave entry, where he is listed as Casibianca B. Rickard, C. B. was better known throughout his local community as "Mike." (The case for "Casibianca" is supported by Mikey Stanford Rickard's draft card, which lists Mr. Cassie Rickard as the person who will always know Mikey's address.) The 1920 census lists the family's children as Alberta E. (8 years old), Delia M. (6), Violet V. (5), and infant May F. The only son at the time, Mikey S., is listed at the time as being 4 years old. By 1930, the census shows that the family had added another son, Charles (5 years old). However, it appears that Alberta and Delia are now listed as Edith and Debby. These slight discrepancies in the family listing can be explained by noting the census enumerator may have transposed the first and middle names (Alberta E. becomes Edith A.) or misunderstood the given name (Delia instead of Debby or Debbie). The 1940 census lists only Edith, Mikey, and May at home.
When Mikey registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, at the age of 23, he stated that he lived at Route 1, Kaylong, in Mason County, and he was employed by Claire Cottrell in Point Pleasant. The following year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Huntington on June 27. His education consisted of grammar school, and his civilian occupation was that of "farm hand, general farms." While his enlistment record does not include how he was branched, we learn from an American Battle Monuments entry that he was at the time of his death a member of the 708th Amphibious Tank Battalion.
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Included in S/Sgt. Mikey S. Rickard's Individual Deceased Personnel file is a photo montage of his time in service. Courtesy Gary Northup |
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A detailed account of the operation in which Staff Sergeant Mikey S. Rickard lost his life can be found in a contemporaneous chronicle on the website of the U.S. Army Center of Military History. The following narrative is excerpted verbatim from that longer account; this version emphasizes the role of the 708th, Mikey's battalion.
During the early morning of 15 June 1944 units of the United States Army and Navy and Marines massed off the western shore of Saipan Island for the landing scheduled for 0830 on that morning. Saipan is one of the southern islands in the Marianas Group and is second largest. It is 1565 miles from Tokyo. . . .Briefly, the plan called for the landing of two Marine Divisions, attached units, and necessary supplies within a few hours. This plan was dependent upon the amphibious vehicles and their capability of movement on land and in the water. Prior to the landing the naval and air bombardment would neutralize defensive positions in the landing area. This fire would lift as the amphibious tanks and troop-laden tractors neared the shore and the shock action of a large number of these vehicle [sic] should extend the neutralization long enough to allow the first waves to push inland several hundred yards to the initial objective. This would provide a beachhead sufficiently large for the assault battalions to deploy on the ground and organize for the continuation of the attack. Subsequent waves would debark from the tractors at the beach and mop up resistance that was by-passed by the first waves. This plan to by-pass the beach defenses would also afford defiladed [sic] areas inland where troops could debark with greater safety. . . .
Saipan is about 121 miles long from North to South, about five miles across at the widest part…. The southern end of the western shore had been selected as the landing beaches. The landing beaches extended over a distance of approximately 6500 yards. These were marked on the maps which all troops had studied prior to D-day and were divided into four beaches which were designated, from north to south, as Red Beaches 1, 2 and 3; Green Beaches 1, 2 and 3; Blue Beaches 1 and 2; and Yellow Beaches 1, 2 and 3. No landings were contemplated on Red 1, Green 3, or Yellow 3. . . .
The sixty-eight amphibious tanks of the 708th Amphibian Tank Battalion were divided over the four Blue and Yellow Beaches, seventeen tanks on each beach. The 773rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion followed the tanks on the two Yellow beaches. Marine tractors landed the troops on Blue beaches behind 708th Tanks. . . .
The orders to the 708th Tank Battalion were to assault Blue and Yellow beaches, by-pass any strong resistance they could and get to and hold the O-1 line and be prepared for further action.
The post-initial assault narrative continues with the story of D plus 2 operations:
The general line of combat in the morning was hinged at Mt. Fina-Susu and extended south from there. "A" Company moved up to Fina-Susu Ridge beyond Charan-Kanoa, "B" Company supported the drive in the center and "C" Company, on the right flank, supported the 165th Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division that had relieved the Marines the night before. There was organization and coordination between the ground troops and tanks and by evening the line had moved forward to the edge of Aslito Airfield. Only on the left flank had the amphibious tanks run into serious trouble. There, at 1400, Capt Bonner, after conferring with the Marine commander, took Lt Grayland with him and the two tanks moved off to the left, supposedly on a reconnaissance mission. Bonner also notified Lt Paul Silberstein and the other three tanks to follow but before they had gone far both Bonner's and Grayland's tanks received direct hits. Bonner, S/Sgt Mikey Rickard, Pfc Salvador Chavez, Sgt Rudy Mills, Sgt William G. Willison, Pfc James A. Edwards, Pvt Donald V. Norquist, Cpl Otis B. McNeill and Pvt Richard Barrett were killed in these tanks. Grayland and Pvt Leo A. Pinnick were wounded. Silberstein and the other two tanks started to fellow [sic] but one of these was hit and it and the other tank turned back and went to the beach. Silberstein picked up what casualties he could and followed.On June 18, 19, and 20 the 708th tanks were used to support the ground troops either actively or as reserve on call. These amphibious tanks were now used as land tanks although much of the time they were held in reserve during the day and released at night without having been used. Often, however, these thin skinned tanks moved in advance or in support of the ground troops. By 21 June all of the tanks were allowed to remain in the battalion assembly area to perform maintenance.
After 22 June two companies from the 708th were sent out each day to support, or remain in reserve, for the ground troops. The companies that remained behind worked on maintenance of the vehicles. On 10 July "A" Company took twelve tanks and moved along the shore to the northern end of the island with the mission of firing into the cliffs of overhanging caves. "B" Company went on a similar mission on 12 and 13 July, and "A" Company returned on the following day. (Russell A. Gugeler, "Army Amphibian Tractor and Tank Battalions in the Battle of Saipan: 15 June-9 July 1944," 20 January 1945, accessed 4 April 2023, https://history.army.mil/documents/wwii/amsai/amsai.htm.)
On July 9, 1944, Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith declared the Island of Saipan secured. The 708th had a total of 184 casualties in the Saipan operation: 19 KIA, 155WIA, and 10 MIA. Interestingly, there is a record of Mikey is in the U.S. World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954, where he is duly noted as being an infantryman and which shows he was a battle casualty who died in the line of duty in June of 1944. The document U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted for Remains, Group A (Recoverable) 1941-1975, places his death on June 17 at Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. The American Battle Monuments Commission continues to list S/Sgt. Rickard as missing in action, and he is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. A gravestone exists in the Rickard Cemetery, West Columbia, Mason County, West Virginia, but it most likely is a cenotaph.
| In October 1949, the Rickard family received a letter from Lt. Col. W. E. Campbell, reiterating that Mikey's remains were not recoverable and stating in part: "Realizing the extent of your grief and anxiety, it is not easy to express condolence to you who gave your loved one under circumstances so difficult that there is no grave at which to pay homage. May the knowledge of his honorable service to his country be a source of sustaining comfort to you." S/Sgt. Mickey Stanford Rickard was awarded the Purple Heart. |  Honolulu Memorial (National Cemetery of the Pacific). Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission |
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure, who gratefully acknowledges the information provided by nephews Gary Northup and Mike Burns and access to Mikey Rickard's Individual Deceased Personnel File
April 2023
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
