By Lori Kerns, AFRH-G Librarian

Richard “Dick” Troyer was born second in a family of six children.  As a child he lived in Hutchinson, KS and lost his mother at the age of eight.  Unfortunately this was not his only loss at a young age.  All too soon Dick lost one brother to encephalitis and another brother when his B-29 exploded.

When asked why he joined the military, Dick said that he was very patriotic 19-year-old and wanted to do his part for his country.  On November 2, 1942, he joined the Army Air Corp.  Because he had been an auto mechanic before entering the military, he was interested in going to airplane engine school.  However, once his aptitude scores came back he was sent to bomb site maintenance.  His training took him to locations such as Tucson, AZ, McCook, NE, Charleston, SC, and Italy. 

After several missions with bomb site maintenance, Dick began to realize that he’d like to take a stab at aerial photography.  He finished out his 35 missions as a Tech Sergeant serving 1 year and 18 months and decided to get out of the military.  It didn’t take long before he decided to re-enlist.  He was placed again with bomb maintenance but got a rare opportunity to attend weather school.  Although the bomb maintenance squad was vying to keep him, he was finally able to move on to weather headquarters where he stayed for 25 years in weather forecasting, retiring in 1970.  With the areas of bomb maintenance, aerial photography, and weather forecasting, Dick served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam earning an Air Medal, seven Battle Stars, Army of Occupation, and many other awards and honors.

Once Dick retired, he became a renovation construction contractor.  He lived in Honolulu and Oahu, Hawaii.  Dick is the proud father of three sons.  He also has seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren that live all over the country.