Richard Harry Taylor

Richard "Dick" Taylor, age 80, of Kennesaw, Georgia, passed away on 24 June 2024 at 1008 hrs.

He was preceded in death by his (parents, Harry Ponder Taylor and Audrey McLeod Taylor,) interred near Anderson, SC. His much-loved wife of fifty-four years, Sandra Wright Taylor—is/was long suffering from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy but stayed faithfully by his side through many good times as well as more than a few dark days. Dick is survived by his stepdaughter Lynn Paige Pooley of Redmond, Oregon; daughter Amy Taylor Crawford of Dallas, Georgia; and son, who passed in March 2021, Richard Scott Taylor of Huntsville, Alabama; and by seven grandchildren. Siblings include his sister, Janet Bryant of Gainesville, and his brother, Robert Taylor of Canon, Colorado.

Dick was born in Norfolk, VA, during World War II while his father was in the Navy after Pearl Harbor, grew up in South Georgia, and graduated from Thomasville High School in 1962 where he played football and ran track to regional and state awards. He attended North Georgia College, where he was Outstanding Squad Leader, went on to command Delta Company in the Corps of Cadets, and I Company of the Scabbard and Blade. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate commissioned into the Infantry Branch of the US Army in 1966. He earned two Masters Degrees, in Education and in Business Administration, from Boston University. He was a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Marine Corps Staff College, Army War College, and National Security Management Course of the National War College, numerous qualification courses at the Infantry and Special Warfare Schools, and later completed a resident corporate executive management course with Computer Sciences Corporation in Austin, Texas.

As a soldier, Taylor served in posts in the United States and around the world, including two tours in Vietnam, one as a Vietnamese infantry battalion advisor during the Tet Offensive of 1968, and again as a company commander and intelligence officer in the 1st Cavalry Division. He participated in the liberation of Grenada as inspector general of the 82d Airborne Division. He was a key NATO military advisor on the International Military Staff for arms control negotiations in Vienna for reducing conventional armaments in Central Europe, and negotiations of confidence and security building measures—preceding breakup of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact as well as fall of the Berlin Wall. Taylor was executive officer of a special State-Defense assessment team to Somalia; was chief of the United States military assistance group in the Philippines during base closings when the American flag was lowered for the final time at Subic Bay and Cubi Point. He was also director of the Department of Joint and Combined Operations at the army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Colonel Taylor, as a Captain and Major, was also an original member of the army's first modern Ranger Battalion at Forts Benning and Stewart in Georgia.

When Colonel Taylor retired in 1993, he held the Silver Star, 2 Purple Hearts, 5 Bronze Stars, 2 National Defense Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, as well as the Combat Infantry Badge, Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist and Pathfinder Badges. He also was awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor Medal by the Philippine Secretary of Defense.

As a retired officer, Taylor served as senior defense advisor with the Iraqi joint military to establish military inspector general systems in the Iraqi army, navy, air force, and Joint Command headquarters, then later with the Iraqi uniformed police as strategic plans advisor. He conducted a special assessment of advisory contracts in Afghanistan before advising an Afghanistan army corps G3 and G5 operating on the strategic Pakistan border concerning plans, operations, and training and developed and briefed the corps commander on a new operations center.

After active military service he worked for Ross Perot in political organizational development as the Georgia state director, and led teams in California, Ohio, Florida and South Carolina. Afterwards he was hired by Ross first as a corporate recruiter/human resources manager in Perot Systems Corporation and developed procedures to recruit veterans, then in Computer Sciences Corporation and Accenture.

Taylor published nine books of history, fiction, and poetry including an award-winning autobiography of Vietnam service: Prodigals: A Vietnam Story. All his writings are of love and danger in wartime, drawn from experiences as a soldier. Homeward Bound: American Soldiers Return from War was republished as a featured selection by the Association of the U.S. Army. His Eden trilogy, Eden Lost, return to Eden, and Almost Eden were favorably reviewed with Return to Eden winning acclaim in the Georgia Author of the Year awards. Sandy was instrumental as co-author and editor for Prodigals and Homeward Bound and she is due most credit for their successes. Neither would have been possible without her.

In recent years, Taylor resided in northern Georgia and for a time in Bend, Oregon. He was a long-time member of Mars Hill Presbyterian Church in Acworth and lifetime member of numerous veterans’ organizations. Anything he achieved in life that was worthwhile was due to the love and support of his beloved Sandy. His greatest regret as he prepared to depart this life is not having shown her every single day that she was his most important reason for his being on earth. God brought us together and surely knows how much we needed one another here and in green pastures that await us at Fidler’s Green.

A Funeral service will be held at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge on 2950 North Cobb Parkway at 1600hrs on Thursday. 26th June 2024. The burial is at Georgia National Cemetery 1300hrs, Tuesday 2nd July 2024.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent in his name to the Wounded Warrior Project, Tunnels to Towers, or to the Amyloidosis Foundation.

“As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at the peril of being judged not to have lived.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.