This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sgt Ryan Mahana (Alcatraz)
to remember
Marine Capt Richard Dabbs.
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Service Number: O-009475, Birth and Early Life:
Richard Dabbs was born in Sumter, South Carolina, on June 14, 1920. He was raised by Eugene Dabbs Senior and Stella Glascock Dabbs in Mayesville. The Dabbs family had a proud military tradition. Eugene Senior was a veteran of the First World War he served as an infantry lieutenant in France and kept abreast of European politics. The four boys (Eugene Junior, Furman, Billy and Tommy) would all serve in the armed forces; Eugene and Furman were both graduates of the Citadel. Dabbs showed an early interest in aviation, and rose quickly through the cadet ranks, graduating with a degree in business administration and a commission as an infantry lieutenant.
Enlistment and Boot Camp: After graduating, Dabbs joined the Marine Corps Reserve. He enlisted on July 24, 1941 and easily worked his way into aviation training, receiving his commission and his pilot's wings in March, 1942
.
Wartime Service: Lieutenant Dabbs was posted to VMS-3, a reconnaissance squadron based out of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. He flew an OS2N-1 Kingfisher on patrols across the Caribbean; he and his gunner, PFC Bert A. Shea Jr, mainly kept watch for German submarines, but occasionally had to search for friendly pilots who had gone missing as was the case with 2nd Lieutenant David Kerwin and PFC Richard Van Hook.
Date Of Loss: Lieutenant Dabbs and PFC Shea took off for a patrol over the Caribbean on September 15, 1942. They never returned. The Dabbs family was told that Furman had been searching for a missing pilot off the coast of South America when he ran into bad weather and was forced down. Nobody knows what happened, said his younger brother, Tommy, many years later. But there was never any tension in the family [just] tremendous patriotism. No trace of Dabbs, Shea, or their plane was ever found. When Eugene Dabbs Senior passed away in 1943, his son's name was added to his headstone with the inscription Both served their age as good soldiers without fear and without reproach.