• March 6, 1919 – Nov. 24, 1944
• UT Agriculture 1942
• University Student at the start of the war
• 1st LT Army Air Corps
• Sulphur Springs, TN
• Sulphur Springs Cemetery
• killed flying aboard P-51D 44-13291 325th FG 318th FS 15th Air Force over Italy
• Fifty Missions. 6 downed German planes and a Distinguished Flying Cross

Richard Sherfey Deakins (March 6, 1919 – Nov. 24, 1944) was from Sulphur Springs in Washington County, Tennessee. He was an agricultural student at the University of Tennessee in the Class of 1942 when the United States entered the war in 1941. Immediately upon graduating, Deakins joined the Army Air Corps and was deployed in the European Theater as a 1st Lieutenant. He flew a P-51D Mustang as a fighter pilot with the 318th Fighter Squadron in the 325th Fighter Group of the 15th Air Force. He flew over fifty missions and had a record of 6 downed enemy planes that earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross. 1st LT. Deakins was killed in a non-combat plane crash in Italy on November 24, 1944. He is buried at Sulphur Cemetery.

Back to Veterans Memorial Page