Eddie went back into the army for one more war, but cancer had other plans for him.

Marion Edgar Richards was born in Santa Cruz, California, on September 17, 1910, to Edgar Allen and Mabel Richards. The Richards family also included another son Clarence and daughters Mildred, Esther and Ferne. Later Mabel remarried and a stepson, Eldred Colwell, was added to the family. Eddie, Marion's nickname, attended local schools and graduated from Santa Cruz High School with the class of 1928. He remained and worked in the county and in the middle 1930s, managed the Mission Drive-In in Santa Cruz.

Richards enlisted in the US Army on June 18, 1942, and was trained at Camp Callen in San Diego County and at Camp McQuaide near Watsonville. During World War II, he also served at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and Camp Gordon, Georgia. On October 9, 1945, after thirty-nine months of service, he was discharged at Camp Gordon, Georgia, as a staff sergeant.

Following his discharge, he returned home where he remained until 1947 when he re-enlisted. During Eddie's second tour, he served in the US Army Ordinance Corps at posts in Adak, Alaska, Japan and Korea, prior to being diagnosed with a brain tumor. When that condition was discovered, Richards was sent to an army hospital in Japan, where he remained until his death on December 12, 1950.

The body of Marion Edgar Richards was returned to the United States and following a local funeral, was interred in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.

(USCR, 1920 US Census, CA, Santa Cruz; SCHSC, page 67; USDVA; SCSn December 14, 1950 1:3)