Richard Fleek
Richard’s great grandfather Howard Karr served in the Navy during WWI on wooden ships, his son Merle Karr (his grandfather) served with Old Hickory 30th division during WWII. The 30th division fought Hitler’s SS division twice and defeated them both times. At that time Hitler dubbed the 30th division “Patton’s SS division”. His grandpa Norman Fleek was in Navy bootcamp when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and his first orders were to go to Hawaii and fill body bags. Later he served on the Battleship USS Missouri and was onboard when the Japanese signed the peace treaty.
So, on November 11th, 2011 at 11 minutes after 11 o’clock in the morning when he was giving his acceptance speech at the city council chambers of his hometown Dearborn, MI, Richard gave his grandfathers all the accolades of him receiving the honor of Veteran of the Year in Dearborn MI.
At 18 years of age, Richard joined the United States Navy and embarked on one of the greatest feats of his life.
After graduating boot camp at RTC Great Lakes, he was assigned to the USS Carl Vinson stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda California. By the time he had turned 20 years old, he had sailed 4 continents, Pusan Korea, Singapore, Subic Bay Philippines, Mombasa Kenya, Diego Garcia & Perth Australia.
Finally, after 6 long months of being underway and on their way home from deployment, supply ships and aircraft started delivering cold weather gear. They all thought “well this is strange, we’re on the equator and we’re heading home.” Then the Skipper finally relayed the news…. “We’re not going home after all, we are on our way to the Bering Sea (in January).” President Reagan wanted to prove to the Russians that we can operate anywhere on the globe no matter what the weather conditions or circumstances were. After a week of operating in the worse conditions you can imagine and losing only one plane doing so, they were finally on their way back home to the beautiful United States of America.
In 1988, Richard received an honorable discharge and headed home and met the beautiful Brenda Frentner. They were married in 1992. They are still happily married with 3 great children Hayley, Savannah & Jason.
After the events of 9/11, Richard felt the need to dedicate his life to helping veterans.
Past commander – American Legion
Past commander – Veterans of Foreign Wars
Past commander – Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council
Headed up project Missing in America Project (Dearborn MI) and buried 20 veterans that had been left on shelves in basements of funeral homes that date back to WWI
Dearborn Allied War Veterans Honor Guard
Dearborn Michigan Veteran of the Year 2011
CommuniServe Board of Directors
So, on November 11th, 2011 at 11 minutes after 11 o’clock in the morning when he was giving his acceptance speech at the city council chambers of his hometown Dearborn, MI, Richard gave his grandfathers all the accolades of him receiving the honor of Veteran of the Year in Dearborn MI.
At 18 years of age, Richard joined the United States Navy and embarked on one of the greatest feats of his life.
After graduating boot camp at RTC Great Lakes, he was assigned to the USS Carl Vinson stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda California. By the time he had turned 20 years old, he had sailed 4 continents, Pusan Korea, Singapore, Subic Bay Philippines, Mombasa Kenya, Diego Garcia & Perth Australia.
Finally, after 6 long months of being underway and on their way home from deployment, supply ships and aircraft started delivering cold weather gear. They all thought “well this is strange, we’re on the equator and we’re heading home.” Then the Skipper finally relayed the news…. “We’re not going home after all, we are on our way to the Bering Sea (in January).” President Reagan wanted to prove to the Russians that we can operate anywhere on the globe no matter what the weather conditions or circumstances were. After a week of operating in the worse conditions you can imagine and losing only one plane doing so, they were finally on their way back home to the beautiful United States of America.
In 1988, Richard received an honorable discharge and headed home and met the beautiful Brenda Frentner. They were married in 1992. They are still happily married with 3 great children Hayley, Savannah & Jason.
After the events of 9/11, Richard felt the need to dedicate his life to helping veterans.
Past commander – American Legion
Past commander – Veterans of Foreign Wars
Past commander – Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council
Headed up project Missing in America Project (Dearborn MI) and buried 20 veterans that had been left on shelves in basements of funeral homes that date back to WWI
Dearborn Allied War Veterans Honor Guard
Dearborn Michigan Veteran of the Year 2011
CommuniServe Board of Directors