SGT Jacob (Jake) N. Richardson, US Army, Feb 2004-Aug 2012, Ret

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Jake joined the Army National Guard in Hannibal, MO in February 2004 during which he was deployed in support of Hurricane Katrina. In 2008 he sserved in Bosnia at a National Intelligence Center as an Entry Control Point MP. After a few month stint in Bosnia, Jake went on to Kosovo to join the security forces there. He transitioned to Active Duty Infantry in 2009.

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Sgt Richardson was assigned to the 1st Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.Jake was wounded in action on September 7th 2010 in Balad, Iraq, Salab ad-Din province. 

Upon returning from a night mission on 7 September his unit stopped at an Iraqi Commando Outpost, where they were fired upon with small arms fire, while unloading from the transport vehicles. The unit immediately took cover and
started returning fire when a second Iraqi Security Force soldier, who was intermixed with the unit, started firing on the cluster of US Forces. This Iraqi Security Force member who had been trained by the US Forces was shot and killed but the unit suffered two casualties, SSG Phillip Jenkins and PFC James McClamrock, and nine wounded, including SGT Jacob Richardson.

SGT Richardson was hit in the left leg with a 7 .62mm AK round which shattered his femur and damaged the femoral arteries and nerves beyond repair. Choosing not to amputate SGT Richardson was left with a "salvaged" lower leg and amputation remains a possibility.

In addition to losing two members of his unit, while in the hospital being treated for his leg injury, SGT Richardson's cousin, SO2 Adam Smith, US Navy (SEAL), who he had served with in Iraq, was killed in Action (KIA) in Ayatalah, Afghanistan in a UH-60 Black Hawk crash during combat operations.