Early life Richardson was the only surviving child of Methodist Minister Royal Richardson, who died when Iliff was three years old. and raised Iliff in a variety of Colorado towns and her father's Nebraska ranch, located northwest of Springview, Nebraska. After his death, the Richardsons went to live in Los Angeles. He later transferred to
Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, commanded by
John D. Bulkeley. Richardson was the executive officer of
PT 34, under
Bob Kelly. When the Japanese captured General Chynoweth's headquarters, Richardson headed to
Leyte, making it to
Tacloban, and the headquarters of Col. Cornell. Richardson was promoted to full
lieutenant and made speeches across the United States.
Memoirs After the liberation of the Philippines, Richardson transcribed his memoirs to
Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and author
Ira Wolfert of the North American Newspaper Alliance. Wolfert turned it into a book,
An American Guerrilla in the Philippines, which became both a
Book-of-the-Month Club selection and a condensed book in the March 1945 ''
Reader's Digest''.
Darryl F. Zanuck of
20th Century Fox bought the film rights and had Lamar Trotti write a
screenplay by August 1945. The end of the war led Zanuck to shelve all films with a World War II theme. It was eventually made five years after the end of the war. The name of the central character was changed to "Chuck Palmer" and he was given a fictional love-interest for dramatic purposes, but based on Richardson's girlfriend "Curly". Many years later, Richardson told a meeting of
Eagle Scouts that he learned how to live as a guerrilla through his days in Los Angeles Boy Scout Troop 92. ==See also==