Richard (Dick) Otho Saffer

Richard (Dick) Otho Saffer was born on Feb. 14, 1917, in his grandfather William Cline's house on Pottery Hill in Port Orchard, Wash., and passed away peacefully on July 9, 2007, in Moses Lake.

After he graduated from South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, he went into the Merchant Marines. After two years he was drafted into the Army. He was in the Tenth Mountain Division and took his training on Mount Rainier. He was training men for ski patrol. When his troops went overseas, he was kept at Mount Rainier to teach skiing. His term of service ended but as he was getting ready to leave the Army the war began and he had to stay in the army indefinitely. He also taught skiing in Camp Hale in Colorado. His first deployment was in Kiska or Attu in the Aleutian Islands. It had been a Japanese hideout and the hills were dotted with caves. His unit had to search all the caves. Actually the Japanese had left but they didn't know that so it was very scary going into those dark caves expecting every minute that a sniper was hiding there to shoot you.

After that he was sent to Italy and landed on Omaha Beach. He wrote about wading across the Po River, water waist deep, holding his rifle and ammo over his head to keep them dry. He was given a citation for bravery when his troop was fighting to get control of a gun mount atop a hill. His leader was killed, so he took over and led his men to victory.

Preceding him in death were his brother William, his daughter Nancy, and stepson Jim. Surviving him are his wife Vi, son Michael, stepdaughters Patty and Pam, stepsons Bill and Tim, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Memorial services with military honors will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at Kayser's Chapel of Memories with Pastor Joseph Meyers officiating.