Richard's father, George, was aboard the USS Tennessee in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The stories of that day are the stories Tish Richard now shares with her students.
George Richard remembers being below deck when the attack began.
"All of a sudden we heard a WHOOM! And we looked at each other and thought, 'That's funny.' And another WHOOM! Well, that is when the attack was starting," George Richard said. "Pretty soon they sounded the alarm, which was gong, gong, gong - and we started running."
The attack by the Japanese claimed the lives of 2,403 and wounded 1,178. By the time George Richard reached his battle station on the Tennessee, the damage had been done.
"Just total devastation. It was unbelievable," he said. "And they gave us fire hoses, and all of the water was on fire, and there was smoke all over the place, and we had to start trying to keep the fire away from the side of the ship."
Tish Richard has heard the stories since her childhood and now uses them to teach history to her students at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
"Gosh, I've heard so many of my dad's stories," she said. "He always amazes me because he'll pull out a story I've never heard before and so I kind of catalog it."
The stories provide a personal glimpse into history that text books don't always provide.
"You just do not get that in history books," George Richard said.
He will be returning to Pearl Harbor for the 70th anniversary with other survivors this year as part of a trip organized by The Greatest Generation Foundation.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)