A Marine Corps combat veteran who died suddenly last summer after an ugly legal battle with the service's senior leadership was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on Friday during a blustery ceremony attended by the late scout sniper's friends, family and admirers.
Retired Cpl. Robert Richards died Aug. 13 at his home in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He was 28 years old.
Richards was the focus of an international scandal in 2012, after video surfaced showing him and other Marines urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan, but he also was deeply respected by many as a brave, ferocious warrior who refused to let severe combat wounds keep him from the battlefield.
Services were held for Richards the week after his death, but his burial was postponed to coincide with this weekend's five-year reunion commemorating one of the Marine Corps' defining campaigns during the 13-year Afghanistan war: The assault on Marjah. After his funeral, Richards' widow, Raechel Richards, had her husband's ashes placed in an ammunition can bearing his name, unit designations and the scout snipers' mantra of "one shot, one kill." She spent the next several months visiting destinations around the country — ammo can in tow — where the couple had intended to visit.
More on Rob Richards, including Marine Corps Times' exclusive video interview with him in 2013, can be found here:
