Richard M. Scott
Richard M. Scott, also known as "Dick Scott", was an American politician, U.S. Air Force pilot, and the former Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is best known to have led the effort to bring professional baseball back to the city of Lancaster. This was realized with the creation of the Lancaster Barnstormers, of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He also served as Adjutant General of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1986.Biography
Dick Scott was born in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Roy V. and Laura Scott. He graduated from the Lancaster Boys' High School. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Scott was stationed in England in January 1944 and began flying P-38 missions over Europe during World War II. In March 1944, Scott's plane clipped a transmission tower in the Netherlands, shearing off his left wing and forcing a crash landing in Nazi-occupied territory. Scott eluded capture for several months with the help of the Dutch resistance, with whom he joined for several months. The Dutch resistance conceived a plot to help Scott escape the Netherlands by traveling through occupied Belgium and France before arriving in neutral Switzerland. However, Nazi spies who had infiltrated the resistance learned of the plot and Scott was arrested by German authorities.
Scott managed to escape from the Nazis twice during his detention. In 1945, he escaped for the second time from a prisoner of war camp in Sagan, Germany, and was able to rejoin the American forces. Upon reaching the Americans, Scott was nearly shot by them because they did not initially believe he was an escaped American prisoner of war.
Scott retired from the United States Air Force in 1970. He was elected Mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1973. He was re-elected in 1977. Under his leadership, Lancaster City was renewed with the Armstrong-National Central Bank and a lower crime rate.
Albert Wohlsen was appointed interim mayor in 1979 after Scott resigned as mayor to serve as adjutant general of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1986 under former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh. As Adjutant General, Scott led the Pennsylvania National Guard and the state's veterans programs.
Scott died on January 2, 2005, at Reading Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania at the age of 86. In 2006, Scott was posthumously inducted into the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Hall of Fame.
