Richard Ryan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in March 1921. His father worked for the Ford factory making automobiles. He kept his job through the years of the Great Depression so the Ryan family did not suffer as a result. The last model of Ford automobile manufactured in New Orleans was a Model A. After an argument over taxes, the plant was moved from New Orleans to Detroit, Michigan. Ryan joined the US Marine Corps before the United States got involved in World War 2 in order to impress his girlfriend. While out on maneuvers one night, he decided to switch branches. On 4 October 1939, Ryan enlisted in the US Navy for six years.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941], Richard Ryan was stationed at the naval air station in Anacostia, in Washington D.C. After learning of the attack, Ryan put in for flight school and began training. After an injury ended his flight training, he requested assignment to a squadron and was assigned to CASU-21 [Annotator's Note: Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 21], a unit equipped with TBM Avenger torpedo bombers. Ryan remained with CASU-21 and during his time with the unit, CASU-21 sank six or seven German subs and capture one which is on display at a Museum in Chicago [Annotator's Note: U-505 is on display at the Museum od Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois]. Ryan worked on his own aircraft and flew as the turret gunner. All of Ryan's combat flying was over the Atlantic. They would go out and drop sonobouys which deployed a microphone and antenna when they hit the water. If an enemy submarine was detected, Ryan's unit would drop depth charges and bombs on the contact. The bombs made some enemy vessels surface but others were sunk. One of those that surfaced was the u-boat that was captured by the USS Card (CVE-11). The capture of the German submarine also resulted in the United States breaking the German naval code.

When the war with Germany ended, Richard Ryan hoped he would be sent home. He had a one year old son he had not yet seen. Instead, he was assigned to the USS Tripoli (CVE-64) and went to the Pacific where they took part in the capture of several islands including Kwajalein and Roi in the Marshall Islands. Ryan remained in the Pacific until after the war ended. When he finally did get back to Pearl Harbor he requested a discharge. The Tripoli was a small aircraft and carried FM then F6 fighters [Annotator's Note: Grumman FM2 Wildcat and F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] and Avenger torpedo bombers. [Annotator's Note: Grumman TBF or TBM Avenegr torpedo bomber. Aircraft identified with the TBF code were manufactured by Grumman while those identified as TBM were manufactured by General Motors.] The ship usually carried 16 fighters and 12 TBMs. Unless they were being attacked, the carriers never saw any action. There was a benefit to serving on a ship that large and that was having a good supply of food. While serving aboard a destroyer on Neutrality Patrol defending convoys from German u-boats, Ryan's ship ran out of food. That was when he learned to eat raw onions.

While on maneuvers aboard the Texas [Annotator's Note: USS Texas (BB-35)] in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Richard Ryan was transferred to the Broome [Annotator's Note: USS Broome (DD-210)]. Ryan packed his bag and headed to his new ship. Ryan did everything aboard the Broome including swabbing the deck and peeling potatos. Since there was only one shower on the Broome, the men would all get naked on the fantail of the ship, they would lather up with sdalt water soap, then they would be washed off with a fresh water hose. The Broome patrolled then East Coast from New Foundland to the Gulf of Mexico. This was during the Neutrality Patrol. Ryan enjoyed his time on the Broome and he learned a lot but he does not recall how many men served with him.

Richard Ryan served aboard the Tripoli [Annotator's Note: USS Tripoli (CVE-64)] in the Pacific and the Card [Annotator's Note: USS Card (CVE-11)] in the Atlantic. He never experienced any kamikaze attacks. The closest he ever saw of the enemy was when he was on the hangar deck [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS Card (CVE-11)] loading machine gun ammunition into belts and a flight of three German aircraft flew past them out of nowhere. In the Pacific, Ryan was able to go ashore on Kwajalein or Roi. On one island there were tunnels dug by the Japanese. Ryan was transferred off the destroyer [Annotator's Note: the USS Broome (DD-210)] in Norfolk and was sent with a group of men to a re-assignment center. That' when he was sent to the Card and went out into the Atlantic. When he was second class [Annotator's Note: Machinist's Mate 2nd Class] and above, he was allowed liberty in North Africa. While on liberty he bumped into his brother-in-law who was there with the Red Cross. Also while in North Africa, Ryan traded a local five cigarettes and two pieces of flint for an automatic pistol. He later sold it because he was not making much money in the Navy. His family grew when he got back to the United States. He had six boys and one girl.

When the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Richard Ryan was at the naval air station on the Lakefront [Annotator's Note: the Lake Pontchartrain Lakefront in New Orleans, Louisiana]. He was aboard ship when the war ended. They were on the hangar deck watching movies when the Japanese surrendered. After hearing the announcement, everyone started firing. Some guys even abandoned ship and swam to shore. After the war, Ryan was discharged. He then re-enlisted. He was working at the naval repair base doing paperwork in an office in which he was the only male. When he saw and advertisement for station keepers, he volunteered for a transfer. He went to a local air base and after getting an SB2c [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber] to start, the lieutenant made him a second class and put him in charge of the line. He then became the flight engineer on an R4D. [Annotator's Note: The R4D was the US Navy and US Marine Corps variant of the Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft. The civilian variant was the DC-3.] They would use the aircraft to fly around the state to pick up reservists for training. Ryan stayed in the Navy for 22 years, retiring in 1960. During that time he served aboard some ships, the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia and at the Naval Air Station in New Orleans. At the time, the base in Belle Chase was only a short dirt strip that the Navy used as a place to load live munitions on aircraft. With seven kids at home, in an effort to make extra money, Ryan worked at Holmes [Annotator's Note: D. H. Holmes was a New Orleans based department store chain], Maison Blanche [Annotator's Note: Maison Blanche was a New Orleans based department store chain] and Sears, especially during the Christmas season.

Looking back, Richard Ryan feels that World War 2 changed the United States in a bad way. Young people today do not have the same feelings of security and country. Ryan is so disappointed with the current state of affairs that after relocating to Colorado after Hurricane Katrina, he attempted to reenlist in the Navy. Ryan loved his time in the Navy and he would go back in if he could. He wanted to fly so bad that he joined the CAP [Annotator's Note: Civil Air Patrol] and was given a rating of second lieutenant. [Annotator's Note: Interview ends abruptly.]