Richard I. Neal was born on June 20, 1942, in Hull, Massachusetts. Neal attended Northeastern University in Boston. He graduated in 1965 with a B.S. degree in History and Education. While attending Northeastern University, he joined the Platoon Leaders Class(PLC) in 1962. After he graduated from Northeastern and finished his PLC program, Neal was an Officer Candidate and entered The Basic School (TBS) as a Marine officer. After finishing the six month program, Neal headed to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for the Officer course and training to become a Forward Observer(FO). This position would be placed with an infantry company.
As an infantry officer in June 1966, Neal was assigned to head to Vietnam with the infantry company. He arrived on a C-130 in Danang, in the Republic of Vietnam. He was assigned to his first job as a FO, where he joined a Sparrow Hawk platoon, a Quick Reaction Force that was headed to support a recon unit under fire. Before the Reaction Force left, the need for combat support was not required anymore and the mission was canceled. A day later, Neal was flown to join the Fox Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines. Neal switched, and he was next assigned to the Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines. He switched back to the Fox Battery after six months and became the Fire Direction Officer(FDO). He later requested to join the India Company as their FO, after serving in Okinawa in the Fox Battery. The India Company was stationed at Camp Carroll in the Con Thien Province.
On March 27, 1967, Neal was assigned to a mission in Operation Prairie III. The assignment was to move the company during daylight into the area where enemy forces were reported, and then deploy into three ambush positions after dark before confronting the enemy. The Company spent three days waiting, and then the action started on Hill 70 the night of March 30th.
The company started to be attacked by mortar rounds hitting their position on the Hill As the sound of AK-47 rifles increased in volume, the Marines were being caught by bullets around them. The platoon leader was shot next to Neal, and the next in charge was himself. Throughout the night, the company attempted to hold the enemy back and succeeded by keeping the majority of their company alive and not being overrun by the enemy actions. Due to his heroic actions in combat, he was presented with a Silver Star.
Neal came home from Vietnam in the spring of 1967, and returned for a second tour in 1970. He returned to Vietnam as an Infantry Battalion advisor for a Vietnamese colonel. He lived with the Vietnamese Marines and advised the Battalion commander. An Air Cavalry package was assigned to him under his operations. On one mission while flying in multiple Little Birds, they started to take gun fire and one of the small helicopters went down. During the enemy fire, Neal rescued two airmen from the crashed helicopter and retreated back to an aid station to treat the wounded airmen. Due to these actions, Neal was awarded a second Silver Star.
Upon return from his second tour in Vietnam, Neal attended the Amphibious Warfare School(AWS). He was pulled from AWS and assigned to command a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps(JROTC) unit in New Orleans at Jesuit High School. The program was named the number one Marine Corps JROTC in the country at the time. In 1973, after the two years spent working with the JROTC, Neal served as the Commanding Officer for the firing battery, 2nd 155 Howitzers, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
He was assigned shortly after to Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. Neal toured as the Company Grade assignment officer at Headquarters. While serving at Headquarters, he worked as the Aide to the Assistant Commandant for a year. Neal was taken out of being the Aide, and attended the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He graduated, and he was assigned as Head of Operations division, Amphibious Warfare School, in Quantico. In 1981, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1982, Neal was selected to attend the National War College in Washington, D.C. Upon graduating, he returned to Camp Lejeune to command the 5th battalion, 10th Marines.
In 1985, Neal was promoted Colonel and assigned to the United States Central Command, MacDill Airforce Base, Florida. He was first assigned as Chief of Policy Division and then promoted to Chief of Special Projects Division.
In August 1988, Neal was selected and assigned as the Director of the Amphibious Warfare School(AWS) in Quantico. Neal maintained this duty for almost two years, and he was promoted to Brigadier General in July 1990.
In September 1990, during Desert Storm, Neal was assigned and served as the Deputy Director of Operations for General Schwarzkopf, and was also assigned the duty of Central Command Briefer. He delivered many televised international press briefings during the war.
From June 1992 to August 1992, Neal served as Commanding General, Joint Task Force for Operations GITMO, assisting Haitian migrants in Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. In 1993, Neal was promoted to Major General and assigned as the Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Division. In October 1994, Neal was promoted to Lieutenant General. Richard I. Neal was advanced to a Four-Star General on September 19, 1996, and he assumed the duties of the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps on September 27, 1996.
Richard I. Neal retired on November 1, 1998, as a four-star general. He served 33 years of active military duty, from 1965 to 1998 and two years in Platoon Leader Class. From his nearly 35 years of service in the Marine Corps, Richard I. Neal was presented with many decorated awards, such as The Defense Distinguished Service Award, two Silver Stars, a Bronze star with combat “V”, and a Purple Heart. Since retiring from the military, Neal served on multiple corporate boards and has been the president of three intellectual companies. He is currently a part of the National Defense University and he served as a Senior Mentor for the US Marine Corps for five years. Richard I. Neal lives with his wife, Kathy, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
