Word: richardson
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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There's no anger in his voice, though. And even with the crewcut and Canal St., New Orleans tattoos--one of a mermaid, another of a clipper ship--the image of Richardson as a platoon sergeant just doesn't fit. His soft voice belies some of the memories--of "mowing down" North Koreans as an infantryman in MacArthur's Yalu River-bound 24th Division and carrying out "search and destroy" missions in the Central Highlands of Vientnam...
...clearly an unjust war and he might have been out there demonstrating himself were he young: "As I thought about it more, I realized it wasn't necessary for them to die." It was in Vietnam in 1965 with "airplanes and more aiplanes coming every day from home" that Richardson began to tire of his career. When it came time for another tour of duty, he opted out--"A little too old run those hills...
...Richardson began picking up his $500-per-month pension, married a widow and embarked on a new career--his first since 1944, when he ran away from Plymouth, Mass., at the age of 16, to join the Merchant Marine. The Harvard job opened up while he was shelving books at Houghton Mifflin, and he recalls jumping at the opportunity...
...Richardson generally has good things to say about Harvard, particularly about its students. "They're your employer and if you didn't treat the students right, you wouldn't have a job," he says after handing an alligator-shirted sophomore a key to lock her closet...
Like other night watchmen, Richardson worries about job security. Guards fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Buildings and Grounds, not the Harvard Police, but like the policeman they worry about their dwindling numbers. Richardson recalls that when he arrived at Harvard, there were about 50 other watchmen. Now, he says, the number is closer to 30. The University has begun to hire "casual workers" at a rate far less than the $4.74 an hour they pay the guards, and Richardson sees that move as the wave of the future. When the guards meet with University officials this week...