Foley, of Minot, believed he knew Richardson when both were stationed at a base in Washington state. Later Foley confirmed from his military information that Richardson, for whom the memorial was dedicated this past summer, was the same person he had known.

“He was a fighter pilot and we were stationed at McChord Air Force Base,” Foley said. Both were in the 317th Fighter Squadron there.

Foley and Richardson’s daughter, Trish Healy of Marietta, Georgia, have talked by phone about her dad and his familiarity with him. A dormitory at Minot Air Force Base is named in honor of her dad.

Now 91, Foley said he was stationed at the base in Washington state from 1954-1957.

Submitted Photo This photo is on a plaque on the memorial for U.S. Air Force Capt. William Richardson between Flasher and Raleigh, where Richardson’s plane crashed in December 1963. Maurice Foley of Minot and Richardson were in the same squadron at McChord Air Force Base, Washington, in the 1950s.

“We had 28 fighter planes and two trainers – T-33s,” he said of the 317th. He said another squadron, the 318th, had the same number of planes.

Foley was a radar technician.

“Every time they would go up, if there was something the matter with the radar, we’d talk to the pilots a lot of times about what happened. Otherwise, their crew chief would report it and we’d put it (the plane) out of service because it wasn’t combat ready,” Foley said. “We used to go to TDY (temporary duty) to Yuma, Arizona, to fire air-to-air rockets at an airborne target. We got the outstanding unit award in ’55. We got the most hits. We got it (the award) again in 1956.”.

Of the military members in the 317th, he said, “They were officers. We were airmen but you’d see them when you were walking into work and visit with them. You respected them as a step above you. Everybody worked for the same thing to achieve our goals.”

Foley said the pilots were flying F-86 D model planes at the time.

He said he left the service in 1957.

“They were changing over to (F-)102s and pilots were gone. That last year I don’t know if he (Richardson) was still assigned to us. They were leaving the base to get trained – qualified – in the 102s, then they’d come back and the squadron went PCS (permanent change of station) to Alaska in ’57 and that’s why I got out,” he said.

While Foley was in the service, he asked for a transfer to Minot but the base wasn’t built yet.

Besides Richardson, who was with the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB when he died, the commanding officer of the 317th, Hubert Williams, also was transferred to Minot AFB’s fighter squadron, Foley said.

Raised in the Lakota area, Foley worked for the North Dakota Highway Patrol as a law enforcement officer for six years after leaving the service. He worked as a district manager for Allis Chalmers, a manufacturing company, and then bought a Minot farm equipment business. He operated Foley Equipment, Inc., until 1993. He then worked as a cell phone salesman until fall 1996.

Foley served for 12 years on the State Water Commission. He also served on other water-related boards. As Minot’s resident “water expert,” he was honored in October 2017 by the City of Minot, Souris River Joint Board and State of North Dakota for his contributions, as detailed in a November 2017 article in The Minot Daily News.

Of his time in the Air Force, he said, “It was good experience.”