Editor's Note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans. Articles will appear in each edition through Memorial Day.

Bob Richmond came under enemy fire on a regular basis in World War II, with nothing but a cement wall as shelter.

Richmond was stationed in Wales during his stint with the Army, 1940 to 1943, at one of the largest supply depots of the war effort.

"We had no place to hide," he said of his harrowing experiences at the mouth of the Severn River at the enormous Barry dockworks. "I'd lay down along a cement wall when the bombing started because there were no bomb shelters."

Richmond trained with a motorized outfit. His unit was transferred to the 559th Port Company, a transportation division, assigned the task of unloading supply ships from the states and loading others bound for U.S. troops in the European Theater.

"We thought it was a pretty cheesy job for experts," he said, laughing about the apparent waste of Army training. "But we did it. Later we began to be pretty proud of our job because what we did is supply the troops on the front line."

When the boats docked at Barry and later, when he was stationed in Cardiff, Wales, the German Luftwaffe took advantage of the sitting ducks, dropping bombs on the unprotected troops.

"I can remember one time standing out on a platform when the bombers came in and I just opened up with my rifle - Bang! Bang! Bang! Of course, the planes were real high. My captain said, 'Do you think you can kill them at 20,000 feet, Bob?' And I said, 'Well, I'm doing something.'"

"We had some fellows who didn't like what we were doing. One guy said he wasn't going to stay here and get shot at and bombed at without fighting back. He asked for and got a transfer to the infantry. We later heard he didn't last two weeks."

The unit received a Citation for Distinguished Service.

Richmond, 85, puffing on his trademark pipe at his Lyon Street home, talked about how homesick he was for his beloved Warsaw during the war.

"The other guys, blacks from southern Indiana, couldn't understand how much I missed home. They were my friends, people I went to school with. I couldn't feature their stories of discrimination. Color didn't matter to my schoolmates."

Richmond said he and his family went where they wanted and shopped and traded where they liked. He said there were no laws concerning his movements.

"I don't know what that feeling [discrimination] was like. I can't imagine it."

Richmond, a 1937 graduate of Warsaw High School, grew up on Rigdon's Row, so close to the edge of Center Lake he could toss his fishing pole out of a window, if his mother didn't catch him.

"Everyone in my unit, black and white, were on my side, but they weren't from my hometown."

The future leader of the Bob Richmond Trio and host of WRSW's Melody Morgue, won a singing contest while he was stationed in California. Earl Heines, a well-known piano player, offered Richmond a job with his band. He turned it down: he had one destination after serving his country.

"I was sort of a lost John over there. When I was homesick, I was homesick for Warsaw, Indiana.

"I just wanted to be home and I was happy to get here."

Richmond retired from the United Telephone Co. and served on the Warsaw City Council as an at-large representative.

During his council term, instead of hiding behind a wall, the veteran tore one down. A cement wall, with an iron railing along the top, stood at the end of Buffalo Street on Center Lake. Richmond was instrumental in bringing the blocks down and transforming the area for public use.

The Times-Union has a file photograph of a grinning Richmond standing amidst the rubble when the wall came down, pipe clenched between his teeth, fishing pole in hand.

He's home. [[In-content Ad]]