Hazard Ground

Richard 'Dick' Stroud joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 during World War II, and he continued his service through the Korean War. Richard served as a U.S. Naval Aviator with seven years active duty plus ten years of service in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He was selected to be a member of the U.S. Blue Angels – the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron — in 1951 after the Korean War but was released to inactive duty in August of 1951 because the Navy temporarily canceled the Blue Angels due to budget cuts by the U.S. Department of Defense. Richard began his career at the then-Lockheed Georgia Company in 1952 and retired at age 88 years young in 2015 (62 years and 4 months). At Richard’s retirement party, Shan Cooper (then the Marietta site vice president and general manager) said she was willing to tear up his resignation letter because of Richard’s commitment to excellence, honor, and respect – all of which had been shown and proven over and over throughout his years of service with the company. Support the podcas