GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. β Stanley Richmond has lost count of how many times he has visited his family's cemetery along Cardwell Road in Goochland County, but one grave always draws his attention. The granite memorial standing alone is dedicated to his older brother Robert, whose body has never been found.
"It was a great loss," Stanley said. "Well it is a hard thing anyway you lose one especially during a wartime."
The empty grave is filled only with questions that have lingered for 80 years.
Growing up, Stanley served as Robert's shadow, following his older brother everywhere.
"I think that's what it was. I wanted to be with him," Stanley said.
His sibling dreamed of taking flight and always kept his eye on the sky.
"He wanted to get in the air. That's all I could say," Stanley said. "He was that determined to fly."
When World War II began raging, Robert joined the Army Air Corps in 1943.
"We missed him a whole lot," Stanley said.
Letters from the front lines
During training and deployment overseas, the homesick Sgt. Richmond kept his family close through handwritten letters.
With no telephone in his parents' home, Robert put pen to paper regularly.
"It says, 'Dearest Mom I received two letters from you today,'" Stanley said, reading from one of the preserved letters.
Stanley remembers dispatch after dispatch from faraway places arriving at the family home.
"Mama was always looking for a letter," Stanley said.
The handwritten notes served as a lifeline to a more peaceful place on the homefront.
In Europe, Robert joined the crew of a B-24 bomber as a tail gunner.
"We knew he was going to be a tail gunner. Which was the obvious place a plane was going to get shot," Stanley said.
As the war wore on, his plane flew deeper into enemy territory. Then Robert's letters suddenly stopped.
"We hadn't heard from him for sometime," Stanley said.
Missing in action
On Feb. 21, 1945, during Robert's 22nd mission, his bomber was shot down.
"Of course they got shot up on the tail end. And he was hit," Stanley said. "He got hit with shrapnel mostly in the chest and stomach."
Each crew member bailed out. Everyone survived except Robert. His whereabouts remain unknown.
"We finally got word from the war department that he had been missing," Stanley said. "He was not officially declared dead for a year later."
Sgt. Richmond is still missing in action. He was 19 years old.
"Something that you learn to live with, but it is hard to do sometimes," Stanley said. "You wonder where he is buried."
His memory is honored on the walls of the missing at Florence American Cemetery in Italy.
Preserving a legacy
Seventy-five of Robert's letters survive in pristine condition. To preserve his older brother's legacy, Stanley allowed the Goochland Historical Society to digitize the letters for public access.
Stanley is also donating Robert's leather jacket with a hand-painted bomber emblazoned on the back.
"This was one of the last photos that we have of him with his jacket on. The jacket that he loves so much," Stanley said.
James Richmond, executive director of the Goochland Historical Society and a cousin of Robert and Stanley, marveled at the jacket's condition.
"To think that this survived with the humidity, especially in Virginia it is almost unreal," James said. "It is amazing. This is something that is tied to someone that is not here to tell his story."
With the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaching and the greatest generation fading away, Stanley hopes his sibling's sacrifice will be remembered.
"I would just like to keep the old memories of him," Stanley said.
The now 95-year-old accepted long ago that his brother may never be found.
"Mama always said if they do locate his body to leave him over there that is his resting place," Stanley said.
Sgt. Robert Richmond would have turned 100 years old in November. To Stanley, his hero will forever be a 19-year-old who realized his dream and is still soaring across the sky.
"It is a great feeling to know that his name will not be left behind," Stanley said. "He gave all that he could give."
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