New Richmond: Post office will bear name of half-brothers

By: Tom Lindfors

A bill to rename the New Richmond post office in honor of Capt. Robert Harmon and Pvt. John Peirson, half-brothers killed in World War II, passed and was signed into law by President Biden as part of bipartisan end-of-year legislation.

The legislation, originally introduced by Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson in October 2019, made it through the Senate but failed to pass in the House of Representatives.

The New Richmond City Council passed a resolution in support of their bipartisan effort in September 2021. 

The legislation had the support of the New Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Butler-Harmon American Legion Post No. 80 and VFW Post 10818 New Richmond/St. Croix County.  

The senators reintroduced their legislation again in 2021, and it passed the Senate this past May.

On June 30, 2022, Congressman Tom Tiffany in conjunction with members of the Wisconsin delegation introduced companion legislation to rename the New Richmond post office the “Captain Robert C. Harmon and Private John R. Peirson Post Office Building” in honor of Harmon and Peirson. 

The two were half-brothers from New Richmond. Harmon was on his 51st mission when he was shot down over France shortly before the D-Day invasion in Europe. A year later, Peirson was killed in action during an Easter Day assault in Okinawa, Japan. It took four years for the brothers' remains to be repatriated to Wisconsin. They are buried side-by-side at Fort Snelling.  

A dedication ceremony at the New Richmond Post Office is to be scheduled at a later date.

Read the article here.