Hurd, Richard F.

by Wes Cate
(Marshfield, VT)

Dick Hurd was a neighbor of mine. After his tour overseas, he became CO of a B24 training squadron at Westover AAF in Massachusetts. He was on leave, home in Vermont, when his visit to a meeting of CAP cadets was interrupted by news that one of his bombers was missing and presumed down in the vicinity of nearby Camel's Hump mountain.
The AAF immediately mounted a SAR effort, but Dick was certain they were searching the wrong area, and they declined his assistance, so he organized the cadets and led them up the other side of the mountain, finding the wreck with the tail gunner still alive.
After the war, Dick became the Deputy Commissioner of Aeronautics for the state of Vermont, serving in that capacity until he retired in the 1980s. He gave me my first airplane ride in 1963, which led to a career in aviation. When Dick's boss, the commissioner retired, a reorganization of state government was taking place, and the position was abolished, cheating Dick of a promotion, but hard worker that he was, he soldiered on without a word of complaint. Never a harsh word to or about anybody, no matter how richly deserved. He died four years ago.