Rob Richards, the Marine who exited from military service in 2013 — and after a widely circulated video of him urinating on a dead Taliban member painted him in a poor light — was buried on Feb. 13 with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
“He served with honor … gave so much … and bled for our freedom,” a Navy chaplain said at the ceremony, The Washington Post reported. “Today we lay him to rest in a fitting place.”
Richards died in August 2014 of an accidental prescription drug overdose at the age of 28. Prior, he had served three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a Marine sniper.
It was his wife, Raechel, who found him dead at their North Carolina home. She said they had been planning on moving to Florida to get a new start on life — and to leave behind the memories of the 2013 court martial that ended with Richards’ taking a plea deal that busted him to corporal but preserved his honorable discharge status.
“He felt backed into a corner,” his wife told The Post, about the incident. “He always said, ’It’s all I’ll ever be known for.’ “
The video spanned about 40 seconds and showed Richards and three of his fellow fighters urinating on the dead Taliban bodies. Their actions were in response to the Taliban killing of one of their Marine buddies — and then cutting his leg off and hanging him from a tree, the New York Daily News reported.
Richards’ cremated remains had been kept in a canister with an Ernest Hemingway quote.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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