Richard Kuhns: World War II
Navy Seabee
Richard Kuhns, born and raised in Lomita, California in 1923, is currently 93 years old, living with the honor of being a World War 2 veteran. He has lived through World War 2 and has experienced life before and after it.
Richard, also known as “Dick”, attended Narbonne High School when it was still apart of the Torrance Unified School District. Richard was involved with many clubs and sports. He lettered in Track and Field, while sometimes running into Louis Zamperini practicing. Richard was a part of the National Honors Society in high school as well. He also became a boy scout and achieved the Eagle scout level in the Lomita Troop 215. After graduating high school in 1941, the war was beginning to erupt in the same year. With the establishment of drafting men of the age of 18 years or older into the war, Richard decided to enlist into the Navy. He attended Long Beach Junior College with the aspiring dream of being a forest ranger, but his time there shortly ended when the Navy transferred him to Caltech to become an engineer officer for the war effort to help America with the invasion of Japan after the Japanese bombed Pearl harbor on December 7, 1941. Richard never had to fire at the enemy or get wounded himself because he was behind the combat. He didn’t have to come into physical contact with the Japanese, but he was still placed in the war zone as an engineer. Richard witnessed the Atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. He was purely against the war effort but knew that the A-bomb meant that he could return home. Because he lived in Lomita, about a third of the population
was Japanese-American. He had a best friend named Bill Wada that he still talks to to this day. When the war unfolded, America created internment camps for the Japanese-Americans because they were afraid that they were spies or would attack. Bill Wada was sent to these camps and disappeared from most of Richard’s early life. After the war, Richard luckily found Bill and was able to rekindle their friendship. However, Richard believes that the Japanese-American internment camps were the worst factor of World War 2 as it affected him personally as well. Because Richard lived before, during, and after the war, he got to experience first hand of America’s evolution over time. Before the war was the infamous Great Depression and all of America was living through poverty, even Torrance. There was only about 4,600 people living in the city of Torrance. Not much of the citizens knew that war was coming because there was not much news about it spread and the United States tried to stay neutral. Richard said that there was not much propaganda
spread before the war but the United States was definitely prepared since they were already supplying Britain with materials. After the war, work and industrialization became very popular. At this time, women started to take on jobs that were specifically granted to men, which really surprised Richard because it was rare to see. Richard believes that the post-war created a fresh start for everyone’s lives and America was not living in so much depression as they once were.
Two weeks after Richard returned home from the war, he was recruited by the Los Angeles County Engineers. Because of his experience as an engineer during the war, this program specifically searched him to bring him in. From 1947 to 1960, he moved around in the Los Angeles area but later moved back to Old Torrance to raise a family.
Currently, Richard has various achievements up his sleeve as he was part of the Los Angeles County Engineers and was the Lieutenant commander in Active Reserve of the Navy. Now he happily lives in the heart of Old Torrance at 93 years old, being the only member of the Kuhns alive in the city of Torrance.