Richard Chester Biggs

Other Events and Attributes:

• Social Security Number: 700-09-5992
• SSN issued: Bef 1951, Railroad Board (Issued Through)

Notes:

Died:
RICHARD C. BIGGS: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice

Daily Press (Newport News, VA) - Saturday, October 18, 1997

Deceased Name: RICHARD C. BIGGS

WILLIAMSBURG - Ret. U.S. Army Col. Richard Chester Biggs died at Williamsburg Community Hospital on Oct. 16, 1997. He had lived in Williamsburg since 1992.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 49 years, Katie Nettles Biggs, and three children, Richard Kirby Biggs of Falls Church, Deborah C. Biggs of Lanexa, and Timothy C. Biggs of Glen Rock, N.J.; and four grandsons, two granddaughters, and a great-grandson.

Col. Biggs was a native of Seattle, Wash., graduating from Queen Anne High School in 1935. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, Skull and Keys and other honorary societies, and captain of the Freshman Track Team. In 1939, he received a bachelor's degree and an Infantry ROTC commission.

He began active duty in February of 1941, and was stationed with the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, at the time of the Japanese attack. He continued to serve with the regiment in Australia and through campaigns in New Guinea and the Philippines until mid-1945 in positions from platoon leader to regimental executive officer.

He held key staff positions with the U.S. Military Government Command in Korea from 1946 to 1948, including seven months as one of two U.S. XXIV Corps Liaison Officers representing the U.S. with the Soviet Union Army headquarters in Pyongyang during the early development of the North Korean armed forces and the beginning of the Cold War.

As a Regular Army Transportation Corps officer he commanded battalion level units in Korea during the war and later in Germany, where he also became the V Corps Transportation Officer. He commanded the 4th Terminal Command at Fort Eustis from 1963 to 1964.

He attended several Army schools, including the Army Command and General Staff College, where he also taught for four years, and graduated from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1960.

After military retirement in 1966, he was the civilian assistant to the principal logistics officer in Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe, from 1967 to 1972. He held the senior civilian logistics position in the Defense Attache Office, Saigon, from 1973 to 1974, and then served on the Army General Staff.

In 1976, he was appointed as a GS-16 as assistant director for materiel maintenance, Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. He was later assigned as the deputy commander of the Engineer Logistics Command in Saudi Arabia, retiring from his civilian Army career in 1981.

He was awarded the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star, both with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal and numerous civilian awards from the U.S. Government and the Republic of Vietnam; and is a Distinguished Member of the Transportation Corps Regiment.

Following his career as an Army civilian, Col. Biggs worked for a defense contractor operating the U.S. base maintenance contract in Turkey, and as a consultant with a number of other base maintenance contractors.

During 1993 and 1994 he volunteered at Fort Eustis as a co-author of the book "Spearhead of Logistics, A History of the Transportation Corps," the definitive history of U.S. Army transportation from the Colonial period to the present.

He served as the executive vice president of the board of directors of the Army Transportation Museum Foundation, and belonged to several professional military associations and the Christopher Wren Association. He was also a volunteer in the Elderhostel programs at the College of William and Mary.

A funeral service will be held on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 9:45 a.m. at the Old Chapel at Fort Myer, Arlington.

Interment will follow in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. The family will receive friends at Bucktrout of Williamsburg this afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m.

Memorials may be made to the Army Transportation Museum Foundation, Drawer D, Fort Eustis, 23604-0320.

Bucktrout of Williamsburg is in charge of arrangements.

Edition: Final
Page: C4
Copyright (c) 1997, Daily Press Inc. All rights reserved.

Richard married Katie Lee Nettles on 17 Aug 1948 in Folkston, Charlton, Georgia, USA. Katie (daughter of William Henry Nettles and Mary Leona Williams) was born on 2 May 1924 in Lake Butler, Union, Florida, USA; died on 6 Nov 2014 in Williamsburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Timothy Christopher Biggs was born on 10 Dec 1956 in Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas, USA; died on 27 Jan 2001 in New Jersey, USA; was buried on 31 Jan 2001 in Christ the King Cemetery, Franklin Lakes, Bergen, New Jersey, USA.
2. Living
3. Living