Richard Vickery Keywan was born on September 16, 1920, in Indiana. He was the son of Assard T Keywan and Genevieve I Keywan.
1Lt Keywan served in the 352nd Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group during World War II. Officially credited with one confirmed aerial victory, his aircraft was P-47D 42-75707, coded SX-A. Taking off from Station 157 in Raydon, England, at 04:34H, he was Killed in Action on June 12, 1944, while dive-bombing a rail junction near Conches. When his flight was jumped by nearly fifty Me-109s, Keywan, flying element lead, managed to shoot down one and damaged two others before his luck ran out. Forced to bail out, he was too low for his parachute to fully deploy. His plane crashed in a field near Gaudreville-la-Rivière - 11 km southwest of Evreux.
1Lt Keywan is now buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-Sur-Mer, France.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, francecrashes39-45.net