{"id":79701,"date":"2025-11-11T08:38:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winterhavendaily.com\/?p=79701"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:40:08","slug":"at-nearly-99-wwii-navy-veteran-still-says-i-wouldnt-change-a-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winterhavendaily.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/11\/at-nearly-99-wwii-navy-veteran-still-says-i-wouldnt-change-a-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"At Nearly 99, WWII Navy Veteran Still Says: \u201cI Wouldn\u2019t Change a Thing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
A.B. \u201cPete\u201d Richards is a proud World War II veteran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Anita Todd<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WINTER HAVEN \u2013 A.B. \u201cPete\u201d Richards is a proud World War II veteran. Only 17 when he volunteered for the U.S. Navy, his father had to give written permission for him to enlist. The war ended in 1946, two years after he signed up, meaning Richards will soon celebrate his 99th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Tampa, Richards said he joined because that\u2019s simply what young men did at the time. His two older brothers were already serving, so following them into military service felt natural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe thought we were doing a good job,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did whatever we had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards spent 18 months as a medical corpsman stationed in Virginia. Although he was not deployed overseas, he fully expected to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI worked in a hospital and when the ships would come into Newport News (Virginia), we\u2019d go down and get the wounded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Corpsman First Class was later transferred to Washington, D.C., where he worked in the Office of the Bureau of Records for six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the war, Richards was honorably discharged and soon met the love of his life, Evelyn. They were married for 71 years before she passed away eight years ago. Richards went on to graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree in accounting and spent 40 years working in that field to support his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At age 50, he and Evelyn made a bold decision\u2014both quit their jobs and moved to Fort Myers to start a seashell business. For 35 years, the couple created artwork and d\u00e9cor from seashells, selling their pieces at arts and crafts fairs across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a good life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together they raised two children, and today Richards enjoys being a grandfather to five and a great-grandfather to nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards attends Church on the Hill in Dundee, where he met Owen Allen, the person who invited him to the Veterans Day celebration at Winter Haven Christian School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he could offer advice to a high school senior with no plans for college, Richards knows exactly what he would say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoin the Navy and spend 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to serve your country, have a good retirement and when you retire, you are still young.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards said he remains proud of his time in the U.S. Navy. During World War II, more than 16 million Americans were members of the Armed Forces \u2013 with 40 percent of those being volunteers. The rest were drafted. Currently, only 66,000 are still with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love my country,\u201d he said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t change a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anita Todd WINTER HAVEN \u2013 A.B. \u201cPete\u201d Richards is a proud World War II veteran. Only 17 when he volunteered for the U.S. Navy, his father had to give written permission for him to enlist. The war ended in 1946, two years after he signed up, meaning Richards will soon celebrate his 99th birthday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,1814],"class_list":{"0":"post-79701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fast-factual-free","8":"tag-winter-haven","9":"tag-wwii-veteran-pete-richards"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winterhavendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/thumbnail_Pete-Richards.jpg?fit=1920%2C1930&ssl=1","aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t