An attorney, photographer and prominent conservationist tells the story of his experiences in the Army during WWII, including seven months of intense battle in which he was one of only three members of his original platoon of sixty to survive without casualty. Blood and Candles includes photos taken by the author and others with camera and film 'liberated' during the war.
About the Author:

Edward T. Richardson, Jr. was born in Portland, Maine on August 22, 1921. His family moved to South Portland in 1925, where he has lived since that time. He is a graduate of South Portland High School and Bowdoin College. He took courses at the University of Paris while serving with the Army in 1945 and after the War he attended Northeastern University Law School on the GI Bill, graduating in 1950.

His activities as a member of the United States Army in the Second World War, including extensive combat experience, are documented in this book. He received the Combat Infantry Badge for the European Theater and North Atlantic Theater of Operations ribbons.

Mr. Richardson was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1950 and became associated with a law firm specializing in insurance company defense work. His law practice soon branched out into a variety of fields including real estate and probate law and a specialization in conservation law.

In addition to his law practice Mr. Richardson also operated an insurance photography business, taught Constitutional Law at the Portland University Law School, and was a Field Investigator for the American Bar Foundation in connection with legal representation for indigent defendants in the Maine criminal courts. He has served on both state and local boards and commissions relating to the environment. As a lawyer Mr. Richardson is most noted for his pioneering work in the formation and development of several conservation organizations, most notably The Nature Conservancy, to which he devoted thirty years as counsel, trustee and officer. He wrote Maine's first Conservation Easement statute, was a founding member and secretary of the organization that pushed through the referendum that resulted in the acquisition of the Bigelow Mountain Range as a public domain, and he is the author of a history of the Maine chapter of The Nature Conservancy published in 1989.

Since his high school years Mr. Richardson has been an avid photographer and some of his wartime photographs are included in this book. He has taught and lectured in the field of nature photography and has made a particular specialty of black and white photography, developing and printing his own work since 1935. His photographs have been exhibited and published from time to time and he has received numerous awards for his photographic work.

His interests and hobbies over the years, in addition to photography, have included hiking, camping and mountain climbing. Throughout his life he has had a passionate interest in classical music and he has a substantial record collection.