Richard Wiessner

Richard W. Wiessner, age 89, born Dec 31, 1923
in St. Paul to Martin G. (Casey) and Mary Angeline(Angie) Wiessner, the second of five sons. Lifelong resident of St. Paul. Survived by wife Ruth (Welsh), sons Brian (Heidi), Bruce (Julia), Todd (Nancy), and Kurt (Ann), 10 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, and 9 extended family grandchildren, all of whom were important to him. Preceded in death by his first wife Norma. He was a veteran of WWII who flew 80 missions in Italy, France and Germany in a P-47 flying against ground-based targets while not expecting to survive. Late in the war, he was part of the small echelon of aircraft that sighted, attacked, and severely damaged the top-secret revetments and newly minted ME-262 jet-fighters hiding along the autobahn that Hitler hoped would help forestall an allied invasion. After the war, he graduated from the U of M's School of Business and subsequently was called to active duty during the Korean War into the Air National Guard where he continued to serve for another 20 yeas. A man of 'hands-on' determination, he loved tools and fixing things, everything mechanical, all kids, classical music, life-long learning, political debate and most of all his family. Like many who experienced the challenges of his generation, he was passionate about traditional American values and was concerned by the erosion of individual responsibility and self-sufficiency. For the past 12 years he worked tirelessly and instrumentally on the Minnesota Air National Guard Historical Foundation towards the building of a new museum educational complex at Ft. Snelling. Services on Friday at 12 PM at Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel, 1 Federal Drive, Minneapolis. Visitation, Thursday from 4 -8 PM at Bradshaw Funeral Home, 678 So Snelling Ave, St. Paul. Interment at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.