Lester Ritchie was born on July 4, 1920 on a farm in North Dakota near the little town of Steele. The youngest of six children, Lester was four years old when his mother died. His father remarried, and moved the family into town and opened a small garage. Les dropped out of school in his junior year when his father became ill and needed help to support the family. Les worked with his father until the spring of 1937 when he to moved to Oregon and lived with his brother while looking for work. Les was working for a company that produced powdered milk when he left for Pearl Harbor in 1941. Upon returning to Oregon, he went back to work for them and married Phyllis Walls.

A few years later, he became a television technician and opened his own shop in Salem, Oregon. His shop provided repair service for eight major department stores in Salem as well as individual customers. After suffering a heart attack at age 58, he turned the business over to his sons. He and his sons also owned and operated an 85 foot commercial fishing boat and fished for albacore during the summer months along the coast of California and Oregon.

Les and Phyllis have three sons (one deceased), six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They currently live in Yuma, Arizona. Although Les was not in the military, he is a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. One of only a very few who were civilians at the time of the bombing that have been accepted as members of that organization.