John Wallace Rich

VHB before Veterans Day 2006 Parade in San Jose, CA, Informal SAL Uniform.

Here's a pic of me in Civil War uniform, taken at a USAKIA event in September of 2005.

UPDATED 5-18-07

Hello:

I began adding articles to Wikipedia in December of 2005, reading the encyclopedia since probably 2003. You'll see changes to this page as time progresses and I learn more. My user name comes from my grandfather, John Wallace Rich, who was KIA December 15, 1944, in or near the German city of Aachen, near the Belgian border. He was 20-years old, and my mother was his only child.

I was blocked for over 6 weeks resulting from a problems with those who haven't had an account on Wikipedia as long, and I've now requested Community Enforceable Mediation regarding one of the cases. I still feel attacked, and I'm working on it. As previously stated, I do also have other things to do and value my time. Hopefully, I'll manage it well, and I say that a lot.

As far as ancestry, I've got German, Mexican-American (Spanish and a little Yaqui), and probably French on my dad's side and, at least biologically, British, Austrian, Dutch, French Canadian, and German on my mother's side. I do believe in civil or human rights, so I mention it here, and as far as religion, right now I'm pretty much Protestant, Lutheran/Episcopalian, baptized in an Episcopal church (in a joint Lutheran/Episcopal service), but my family genuinely believes in freedom of religion. I also first completed a book, A Course in Miracles, back in 1990 and still use ideas from it today.

The ancestry goes back a long way in CA for my father's side, with Bartnings coming here from Europe in the 1880s and Yaquis being in this region of the U.S.A. for 30,000 years. My mother's side has British and Dutch going back to the 1600s in New York, Austrian (half Austrian-Hungarian, some at least probably Jewish who converted to Christians generations ago) going back to the turn of the 20th century, and a little French Canadian and German besides.

There was at least one adoption on my mother's side, and I still research my family tree, making my mother call me the "genealogist" of the family. For biological ancestors, I've rediscovered my Loyalist, major-landowner ancestor in New York who died at 30 on Long Island during the Revolution, something that could give me a UE or UEL title in Canada. Biological ancestors also include those who were First Defenders, first to respond to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men to defend Washington, D.C. at the beginning of the Civil War.

I have other ancestors who fought in the Civil War as well. However, so far I've found no ancestor who fought for the Confederacy. I do still actively search for ancestors who fought during the Revolution, and my mother's siblings all belonged to groups honoring their ancestors from the American Revolution because she was legally adopted after her father was KIA in World War II, and her adoptive father's family had ties to organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution.

I am also the firstborn, born November 1964, with 3 (2 brothers and 1 sister) full and 2 (brothers) half siblings in my mother's third marriage. My parents married in early 1964, my mother's first marriage and the year I was born.

Parents/School

Yours truly has sent out applications to four schools in the CSU system to return in the fall at age 42. San Francisco State already sent me a financial aid award notification, which I accepted. San Jose State, where I last attended in 2002 and began with senior-level standing way back in 1990, officially re-admitted me already, and I also sent acceptance of their financial aid offer. The other two schools I've applied to so far are CSU Monterey and CSU San Bernardino, and I just sent some trascripts out today. It looks like yours truly will have a choice where to attend.

I only have two associate degrees at the moment, both from De Anza College, the first in Liberal Studies and the second in Spanish with honors. However, as I stated, I've been a senior in college since 1990. I even completed a graduate-level course in Spain in generative syntax (as well as other undergraduate courses) back in '88 and have also studied in Mexico and Costa Rica. Generative syntax basically covers the Chomsky rather than Aristotelian (verb, noun, subject) theory of grammar. I also saw Chomsky lecture at UMASS/Boston.

Credit for most classes completed in Spain came from UMASS/Amherst; UMASS/Boston gave credit for courses completed in Mexico. I've also completed all English and critical-thinking requirements for my undergraduate with Bs and an A in the last, junior-level requirement. I could also take my BA from UMASS/Boston but want a better GPA, and I could change my mind.

The college experience has made me want to become a lawyer, though I've even completed scientific calculus, and I do have two living first cousins who are lawyers. I have had to complain, at the federal level for the first time way back in '92 after the school actually recommended it. I guess the process, including the court system, seems to leave a lot to be desired, even though a Bartning graduated Cambridge in the late 19th century and became a famous lawyer, also a first-cousin but three-times removed. Travel occurred in my twenties, Europe, Asia, even North Africa, not to mention North and Central America, including much of the United States by then, probably 30 states, and I studied in the 3 Spanish-speaking countries I mentioned.

I was born while my dad finished up his B.S.E.E. at Arizona State University (ASU). My parents dragged us out of houses they bought to married-student-housing-like residences at UCLA and Stanford, where my dad also graduated with an Master of Finance and MBA respectively. My mother also dragged me to classes at UC Berkeley where she got her A.B. in anthropology and later graduate-level classes in the mid 70s at Brandeis.

Dad also has done a lot of work for the electronics industry, even designing the first "cost-effective" semiconductor memory. He's also held upper-level-management positions in the industry, one reason we were later able to found a nonprofit for families of killed in action (KIA) and died of wounds (DOW).

My cousin, Louis Bartning, was also KIA in Korea. He had two sisters, making my father the next down the line to carry on the family surname. Both men volunteered, both U.S. Army, and Louis was a SGT, whereas John was a PFC.

Current Nonprofit Work

Whereas my grandfather, John Wallace Rich, was KIA in World War II, Louis's, the eldest Bartning male, death in Korea helped lead us to found the USA KIA/DOW Family Foundation (USAKIA), a unique, not-for-profit group incorporated in 2003 as an educational and public-benefit organization to benefit families with U.S. armed forces KIA or died of wounds (DOW, also died of wounds received in action [DWRIA]) in any U.S. military operation. The 501(c)(3) corporation has (or had) a board with U.S. KIA from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. The IRS recognized USAKIA as officially tax-deductible and tax-exempt in 2004. USAKIA also allows membership and has other programs for all families with (KIA) or (DOW). Ironically, my father's and Louis's names are almost identical, though there's a complicated difference, as my father's name at birth was in Spanish, Luis, but he changed it to the English version, Louis, while serving in the U.S. Navy. Born in 1931, my cousin Louis was KIA in late January 1951 after being WIA the year before, so he got an Oak Leaf Cluster on his Purple Heart when he was KIA in Korea whereas all Pruple Heart recipients during World War II automatically received the Bronze Star.

I suppose I should mention my interest in military history, and yours truly does have books on it, has completed at least one course in it at San Jose State, and, along with USAKIA, I belong to other patriotic organizations, some of which have elected me to officer positions, including (associate member) Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), Silicon Valley Chapter, (member and officer) Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), Phil Sheridan Camp #4, San Jose, CA, (member and officer) Sons of the American Legion (SAL), (associate member) Korean War Veterans Association (KWVA), and former (family member) American World War II Orphans Network (AWON).

Story of my Grandfather

(from the the USAKIA Web site)

John Wallace Rich, 1924-1944, Grandfather

My grandfather, John Wallace Rich, firstborn of two, was killed in action on December 15, 1944, just before the Battle of the Bulge. Supposedly he died in some sort of an explosion. A half-track driver, he was just across the Belgian border in Aachen, Germany, a city with a lot of historical significance militarily. The Battle of the Bulge, or Second Battle of the Ardennes, began south of Aachen on December 16, and though I would like to learn more about the events, he had apparently been in the ETO for a while and was not a "green" troop.

Since defensiveness abounds, I'll cite my grandmother's August 6, 2003, E-mail on the picture I'm submitting of my grandfather on a house's "roof garden" on Long Island in September of '43, as she was present at the time:

(Click Here to See Pic. You'll have to use your browser's back feature to return to this page)

----- Her E-Mail Begins

The house belonged to my grandmother. It had 18 rooms--all comfortably large--. The living room was two stories high and there was a balcony above the dining room that overlooked the living room. The main floor had 3 bedrooms and two baths. The lower level had a library, a large hall and two bedrooms and baths and a kitchen/laundry . On the main level was a kitchen with a small dinette and a porch that had stucco fencing where we could sit in privacy. I have no idea how many square feet it had. We usually had a couple live in--he was like a butler and she was the maid. We lived there from the time I was 10 years old until I left for college at 16. My mother and sisters stayed awhile longer and then went into an apartment....

Wally and I met that first year at Purdue and fell in love. When he went into the army and was to go overseas we decided to get married and did, as you know. He was 19 and I was 17. When I knew he was going to Europe I wanted a baby so I had your mother.....I was 18 when she was born. Wally never saw her or even her pictures.

I am sure he is in heaven.

----- Her E-Mail Ends

She later says that the girl in the picture is my great-aunt Avis, who was only 12-years old at the time.

My grandfather was an engineering student at Purdue before he volunteered and was from Indiana, also having roots in New York going way back. His records with the National Archives indicate he enlisted in 1942 while a student. His mother-in-law, my great grandmother, Dr. Beatrice Gelber, would go on to get her Ph.D. and become a successful and at least slightly famous psychologist. Wally was also in the ROTC at Purdue before he volunteered but was a 20 y/o PFC before he was KIA.

As my grandmother says, my mother was born less than a month before he was killed that famous winter, on October 18, 1944. His younger brother, my great uncle Bob, was sent home from the front from what I heard, following the rules in place after the Sullivan tragedy. One story which may explain how he became a half-track driver involves his drive to Niagara Falls from Indiana in his mid teens with my great uncle Bob.

Thanks!

Vincent Bartning
Username: John Wallace Rich
San Jose, CA