Richard Newcomb  Richard Fairchild Newcomb (June 6, 1913–December 3, 2004) was a wartime naval correspondent during World War II and received a Purple Heart. He was a news editor of the Associated Press and the author of a number of books on the battles in the Pacific during the Second World War, including "Abandon Ship!", "Savo", in particular "Iwo Jima", an account of the Battle of Iwo Jima. Newcomb was from Haworth, New Jersey. He graduated from the School of Journalism, Rutgers College in 1932. His two books "Abandon Ship!" (1958) and "Iwo Jima" (1965) were bestsellers. "Abandon Ship!" is the first book written on the sinking of USS Indianapolis, while "Iwo Jima" is an oral history of the veterans involved in the assault on Iwo Jima. He retired to Palm Coast, Florida in 1984, and died on December 3, 2004.