On a recent day in Dec
ember, I received a note from an old military friend of mine. He had included the obituary of Ed, another mutual military friend of ours. I didn’t even know he had passed until receiving that note.
I knew he was a hard worker, loyal friend, and a fun guy when not on duty. On duty, we spent many hours working and sweating to complete telephone projects.
We spent many days at bases that had poor record-keeping when it came to mapping out circuits and what cable carried what numbers. What cable was dead and what was still in service? Nobody knew for sure. After trial and error (and staring down M-16s when going across a secret line and military police were called because of the apparent breach), we re-established accurate records, eliminated dead and unused cable and wiring not in use, in turn saving the weight and space in cableways and on service poles and in cross-connect cabinets. Many circuits were unused or had been dead for some time.
The commander of the base we were at sent a letter of commendation to our commander at our home base, advising him of our work ethic and updating records so all future work could be done effectively and efficiently. We had many of these letters of commendation in our records for our work over the years.
Ed was relentless in identifying circuits and cable pairs carrying telephone communications within and outside bases. We spent many 12- to 16-hour days when on duty while we were at the assigned bases. Illinois, Mississippi, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin (I won’t mention the bases but they were in those states).
Either active duty or drill weekend for National Guard and Reserve, Ed was a great guy to be around, as telephone installer/repairman was his civilian job as well. He was a wealth of telephony information, from inside office where the central office switching was, single line phones, key systems, PBX – he knew them all and how they worked and why they didn’t. He could trouble-shoot a circuit and know instinctively where the trouble was and why. There were three of us in our AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code – job classification) and we worked well together.
He was a Technical Sergeant (E-6) and my crew chief when I arrived and made Master Sergeant (E-7) before he retired from the Air Guard and went on to serve with the Reserves for another 10 years. He should have made at least Senior Master (E-8), but the slots allowed for grades in our AFSC didn’t allow more than Master. Such is the way of the military.
His off time was taken up with golfing, playing pool, drinking an adult beverage or two, and relaxing by telling stories of when he first started at General Telephone and the Air Guard. He was quick to tell a joke and quick to laugh. Wherever you went with Eddie, everyone knew him and you could tell he was well liked and had many friends.
His civilian life was very similar to his military life – consumed by telephone work. He also was on many golfing and bowling leagues and with his big heart, free time was consumed with volunteer work.
He was a short guy – probably 5’6”, with a mop of black hair, a round face with a mustache, no neck to speak of (we called him no-neck Eddie when people were confused about to whom we were referring), and a weight problem – he liked to eat. When the Guard started to enforce weight restrictions, he lost the weight, he didn’t want to leave the military.
He love drill weekend and active duty. I don’t think the guy ever took a vacation – the military was his vacation. He must have had many active duty hours, because they often called him when a phone problem arose and he would take vacation days from work to work at the base. Since he was a union steward at General Telephone, nobody much cared what he did or when he did it, he was the “Big Dog” in the union.
I hadn’t seen Eddie but twice since I left the service, once on the base and once at a retirement party for another friend. He was one of my best friends in the service, and I remember him with fondness and good memories.
We should all be so lucky to have friends like Ed – gone but certainly not forgotten! May God have mercy of Ed’s soul – he was a fine man.
As General George Patton said: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived”. A good American sadly we have fewer every day,