Richard Utecht was born on September 21, 1924, in Wisconsin. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 2, 1942, and served in the Field Artillery in the United States and the Pacific until the end of the war. In April 1946, Sgt Utecht cross-trained as a vehicle mechanic, serving as a truckmaster at Camp Stoneman and at Beale AFB, California, until May 1952. His next assignment was as an equipment maintenance supervisor in France from May 1952 to July 1957, followed by service as a Motor Sergeant at Fort Knox, Kentucky, from July 1957 to March 1959. Sgt Utecht then returned to Europe from March 1959 to February 1963. Sgt Utecht then served as an equipment maintenance supervisor with the 535th Engineer Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from February 1963 to November 1964, and then with the 44th Engineer Group in Thailand from November 1964 to December 1965. His final assignment was as an equipment maintenance supervisor with the 92nd and then the 523rd Engineer Battalion at Fort Bragg from December 1965 until his retirement from the Army on December 1, 1966. After his retirement from the Army, Richard joined the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1967, serving as a motor maintenance officer in Saigon until he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War on February 4, 1968. After spending 1,836 days in captivity, he was released during Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973. Richard remained with USAID until his retirement in 1988. Richard Utecht died on September 19, 2010.