Richard Galt was born in February 1924 in Egypt, where his father was dean of the American University in Cairo.  His father later moved on to Susquehanna College and it was from Selinsgrove that Galt entered Dickinson with the class of 1945.  After two years and with the Second World War well under way, he became one of three members of the campus chapter of Phi Delta Theta to transfer to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. 

Galt graduated in 1946 and immediately volunteered for military aviation.  He trained as a specialist in jets and served in Japan and Korea.  He advanced to become a military test pilot and  was killed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on October 13, 1953 during the secret testing of the latest version of the F84F  jet fighter/bomber.  He is buried at West Point.