LCDR Richard Morgan Wright, Jr., USCG (Ret.) was born at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA, the son of Captain Richard Morgan Wright, US Navy (US Naval Academy, ’41, Pearl Harbor – USS Tennessee (BB-43), World War II submariner (seven war patrols), Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands as a Commander, Order of the Oranje Nassau) and Marilyn (Burgess) Wright. He married Diane Lynn Morgan and has two children Kelley Jean Wright and Julie Ann Wright.
He has Bachelor of Arts, History from the University of West Florida, 1974, Master of Arts, Economics from the University of West Florida, 1978, and U.S. Army Aviation School, 1970.
Captain, U.S. Marine Corps 1969-1978
Naval Aviator: UH-1H and CH-46D helicopters
Combat tour: Hoi An, Vietnam '71-'72 (Subunit 1, Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (1st ANGLICO) and Air Liaison Officer, 2nd Brigade, Republic of Korea Marines) Awarded the Purple Heart, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal w/ Combat “V” (for valor) and the Combat Action Ribbon
Flight Instructor, HT-18 Squadron, U.S. Navy Flight School, Pensacola, FL
Search and Rescue Pilot, Station Operations and Engineering Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, NC
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Coast Guard 1978-1994
Coast Guard Aviator: HH3F helicopter
Search and Rescue Pilot (New Orleans, LA, Sitka, AK, 202 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Scotland, UK, and Traverse City, MI)
Operations Officer, Administration Officer, Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, MI (Received the US Coast Guard Commandant’s Letter of Commendation)
Chief, Aviation Life Support Branch and Program Manager, Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Program, USCG Headquarters, Washington, DC (Awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal)
Director of Safety and Flight Operations, Helicopter Association International, 1996-2006.
Society Memberships
Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (Governor General)
The Aztec Club of 1847 (former President)
The National Huguenot Society (President, Virginia Society)
Order of the Norman Conquest (Fourth Vice President)
Baronial Order of the Magna Charta (Surety)
The Winthrop Society Archivist (former)
Sons of the American Revolution (former Vice President, Northern Michigan Chapter)
The National Gavel Society
Society of the Cincinnati (Massachusetts)
Order of the Merovingian Dynasty
Order of the Crown In America
Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America
Order of Three Crusades, 1096 - 1192
Order of Descendants of Justiciars
Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry
National Guild of Saint Margaret of Scotland
National Society of Saints and Sinners
Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva
Society of Mayflower Descendants
Society of Colonial Wars (New Jersey)
Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors
General Society Sons of the Revolution
The Hereditary Order of Descendants of Loyalists and Patriots
General Society of the War of 1812
Military Order of the War of 1812
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
National Order of the Blue and Gray
Military Order of the Stars and Bars
Order of Indian Wars of the United States
Society of the Descendants of Colonial Clergy
Order of Descendants of Colonial Physicians and Chiurgiens
Order of the Founders of North America 1492 - 1692
Descendants of Sheriffs & Constables of Flagon and Trencher
Order of the First World War
Honors
Honoree, National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
Inducted into Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society – 1974
Awarded the President’s Award by the Association of Air Medical Services for Extraordinary Service in the promotion of aviation safety – 2001
Awarded a Grant of Arms by the College of Arms, London, England- 2012
Inducted into the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels – 2014
Awarded the U.S. Coast Guard's Victor Rouland Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Award for Distinguished Achievement - 2019.
Membership in the following non-Hereditary societies and organizations:
Ancient Free & Accepted Masons - Master Mason - Henry Lodge No, 57 (Past Master)
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite - 32nd Degree Scottish Rite - Alexandria Valley Temple
Royal Arch Masons-Fauquier Chapter No. 25
The Heraldry Society, London
The Ancient Order of the Pterodactyl (The Association of Coast Guard Aviation)
202 Squadron Association-Royal Air Force
Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
Combat Helicopter Pilots Association
U.S, Naval Academy Alumni Association (Class of 1969)
Military Order of the Carabao
Military Order of Foreign Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Authorships
"Edward Wright of Sudbury, Massachusetts"
"Allied Families of Edward Wright"
"William Burgess of Concord, Massachusetts and Allied Families"
"The Morgan Family of Greenbrier County, West Virginia"
"The Holcomb Family of Virginia"
"The Camden Family of Virginia"
Listed In (Publications)
"U.S. Coast Guard Aviation, 1916 - 1996"
"So Others May Live - Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue Swimmers"