Staff Sergeant Ken Richardson joined the Air Force shortly after he married in 1988. After basic training he completed SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) instructor training, becoming a certified instructor in 1990. He served at Fairchild Air Force base in Spokane, before moving on to start a SERE training program at Lackland Air Force Base.

While stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, Ken was selected for a position at the Air Force Academy as a parachuting instructor for the Wings of Blue Parachute Team. In this role, he trained cadets to skydive and prepared them for selection for the Wings of Blue Team. It was there that he made his last jump. Ken was doing what he loved when he tragically died in a skydiving accident.

Ken always had a smile on his face and put a smile on everyone else’s face. He had respect and everything he did was to the best of his ability. He loved his country, his God and his family. His wife, Jackie, remembers him as “crazy, as most SERE instructors are.” She says, “Everyone loved and respected Ken. The most important word that comes to mind when I think of him, is integrity.”