Richard Belmont Catton
Lieutenant, Army
Died on 4/14/1919 in Savenay, France
Cause of Death: Disease
Other Information:
Richard Belmont Catton was born in Honolulu on July 12, 1890. He attended Oahu College, now known as Punahou School, and graduated from MIT’s Electrical Engineering program in 1915.
At MIT he was a member of the swim team and Phi Beta Epsilon fraternity. According to “Technology’s War Record,” the 1920 publication of the Alumni Association of MIT:
“Upon graduation from the Institute he offered his services to the Royal Engineers, but they were not accepted. He attended the Plattsburg officers’ training camp in 1917, and in November was commissioned second lieutenant in the Aviation Section of the United States Signal Corps.
In June, 1918, he sailed for France, to be employed in the construction of airdromes. In October, he had a severe attack of influenza, recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital but suffered a relapse. An operation for mastoiditis was necessary, and shortly afterward another from which he died at Savenay, France, on April 14, 1919.”
Listed on the plaque outside the War Memorial Natatorium for giving his life in the Great War.
