Probably the last one that was left:
EDWARD COON
May 5, 1923 - Jan 14, 2014
Ed Coon was born May 5, 1923, to Clyde and Bessie Coon in Oklahoma City. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Clyde and Lewis; and sister, Mary Alice Stong. On March 20, 1945, he married the love of his life, Billie Bryan. Ed served in the Army Air Corps for three years as a navigator on a B-29, serving in the Pacific in WWII, making 24 bombing missions — earning two Distinguished Flying Cross Medals and five Air Medals.
He served two years in Korea as a forward observer, flying 42 missions. Ed graduated from Classen H.S. and The University of Oklahoma School of Engineering. In 1984, he established his own engineering company with son, Bryan, and daughter, Patti.
He is survived by wife, Billie; daughters, Bonnie Smith (Glen) and Patti Pojezny (Carl); son, Bryan Coon (Bev); seven grandchildren, Jill Ferrell (Jeff), Michael Pojezny (Michaela), Josh Smith (Lindsey), Brandon Coon (Crystal), Jill Stephens (Casey), Brittany Grubbs (Tyler), and Kevin Pojezny (Ashley); and great-grandchildren, Connor, Ryan, Rachael, Gavin, Greyson, Laura, Bailey, Kade, Teagan, Jacob, and Everly.
A celebration of life will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, January 18, 2014, at Village United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers,memorials may be given to Village UMC, 2501 W Britton Rd, OKC 73120.
Ed was starchy old school, for sure. At the time, a lot of people didn't like him. Ed was gentleman enough to return their sentiments.
I got along well with Ed. At least as well as he would allow. He threw a field book at me once. Smacked me in the chops with it. I threw it back and nailed him in the forehead. We both later apologized to each other. But that did elevate me to a "cult" status among the field hands of seven or eight crews..."the only guy to stand up to Ed and live to tell about it."
Sail on Ed, say "hey" to my Dad for me when you see him.
Sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace. There's getting to be fewer and fewer WWII vets alive anymore. I bet he took some pretty facinating tales with him.
My uncle was in the Air Force during WWII. He was stationed at RAF Knettishall in England as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress and survived. One of the more interesting stories he told me was when they bombed a refinery deep into German territory. They landed at a Russian held airfield to refuel and head back to England the next night. They were smart enough to sleep away from B-17's and airfield. That night the German's bombed the idle B-17's and airfield. He had pictures of it.
He also participated in the bombing of the ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt. 40 years later, I was setting control points for the Lance missile in and around Schweinfurt. I was unaware of his earlier activities until after I got of the Army.
Some pretty interesting stuff for sure.
Scroll down if you want to see pictures.
cool pics
My father was on North Tinian in the summer of '45 when the Enola Gay was flown in and modified to accept the "Little Boy" payload that it eventually delivered to Hiroshima. He never flew combat, but was maintenance on the 29s, particularly their comms and oxygen systems.
His story was that several B-29s were flown in and repeatedly repainted with different tail insignias. Nobody really knew what was up except that the hangers where the bomb bay mods were being performed were strictly verboten.
When I asked him if he worked on the Enola Gay his reply was, "Probably. I worked on every G-D plane out there." Security was a very big deal on the airfield. Everybody he knew thought that they were installing new top-secret aerial photography equipment. The 29s that flew out of Tinian, Saipan and Guam were used not only for bombing missions but a lot of weather and ground reconnaissance at the time.
RIP Mr. Coon.
I have actually been to the Poltava Air Base in those photos. Thanks for the link, Beer Legs. Didn't realize we operated there in WWII.
If you know anyone that lived through those times don't pass up a chance to pick up the phone or visit them today. They are passing fast. I miss hearing my grandmother from England tell old stories from the war.
cool pics
I checked out North Tinian on Google. One airport is still operational.
Interesting island. Not very big. I bet there's quite a bit former US facilities that was built up during and after the war in San Jose Village. Hey, there's a Casino there. I think I could live there...
It doesn't seem to be well known. Russia sort of sided with Germany at the beginning of the war and the US didn't really "cooperate" with Russia until after Hitler attacked Russia. The US also gave Jeeps, tanks and other stuff to Russia. Relations turned sour shortly after the war ended and you know the rest of the story.
So I have to ask. What were you doing in Poltava? It sounds interesting.
It is my wife's hometown. It's an interesting place. I would like to sneak in a metal detector to the old air base. Also there was a major battle in the area in 1709 between Russia and Sweden.
