Oscar Riches and
his family emigrated to
America onboard the SS
Haverford in 1920. He
became the Golf
Professional at the
Riverview Country Club
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Oscar Riches was born in Melton on 14th March 1885. In 1901, he was living with his parents in Tollgate Cottages and working as a warehouse boy for a grocer. By 1911, Oscar had left home and was working as a domestic servant.
According to his service record, Oscar enlisted at Le Havre in France on 23rd March 1915 and was sent immediately to England and Felixstowe, where he joined the Suffolk Regiment at their battle station. After training with the 10th Suffolks at their base in Felixstowe, Oscar was posted to France on 7th December 1915, joining “W” Company of the 2nd Suffolks thirteen days later near Wancourt, in Belgium. On Christmas Eve, the battalion was back in the trenches – Oscar’s first time on the front line proved uneventful. The 2nd Suffolks remained in the Ypres area until late June 1916, when they were transferred to the Somme.
On 11th July 1916, while clearing trenches through Montauban, Oscar was accidentally stabbed in the thigh with a bayonet. He was taken to the 10th General Hospital in Rouen for treatment. After three days at Rouen, it was decided that his wound was severe enough for him to be sent back to England and Oscar was transported on the Hospital Ship Asleinis, then on to Naunton Park Hospital, Cheltenham, for treatment.
Oscar riches was treated for an accidental bayonet wound in his thigh at Naunton Park Hospital in Cheltenham.
Oscar re-joined the 2nd Suffolks on 3rd December 1916 and remained with them until December 1917, when, due to illness, he was transferred back to England on the Hospital Ship Grantully. He was not to return to the front line again. Oscar was discharged from the services on 10th February 1919, having received the 1914-15 Star, the British War and Victory Medals for his war service.
On 30th May 1918, Oscar married Minnie Florence Pitman at Harbourne Parish Church in Staffordshire. The wedding certificate confirmed his address as Tollgate Cottages, Melton. In June 1920, Oscar and Minnie left Liverpool on the SS Haverford bound for Philadelphia and a new life in America. They settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where Oscar became a golf professional and alderman in the town.
Oscar was also an honorary member of the Winnebago County Barracks 1472 World War One Veterans Association in recognition of his service during the war. The couple had two daughters, Joan and Nancy. Oscar died aged eighty-one in May 1966.