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Scans of intake photo and certificate of recognition by President Obama.
Albert Robert Rich was born in Campbell, Ohio on March 24, 1924. He attended Campbell High School and worked at the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company prior to his service in World War II. After the war Albert attended Youngstown State University and Carnegie Mellon University, gaining his BA and MA in education. He married Josephine Anne Zillo and they had one child, Gary Robert Rich, born November 21, 1953. Albert taught elementary school at Dickey Avenue School and served as principal at Roosevelt, Jefferson, McKinley and Willard Elementary Schools, retiring in 1987. He passed away in Howland on his late wife's birthday, January 3rd, 2015, just months after her own death.
Albert served in the United States Army from 1944-1945 as a Private First Class in Company I 172nd Infantry, operating a light machine gun. His unit participated with General McArthur in retaking the Philippines, at Luzon and in the New Guinea Campaign, and he was known to remark that he had been unable to change his clothes for six weeks during the war. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Asiatic pacific Theater Medal with one Bronze Service Star, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Service Star, the Good Conduct Medal and a certificate of recognition by President Obama. On May 4th, 2015 his son Gary accepted the combat Bronze Star, the third-highest military award, on his behalf.