World War II veteran dies after parade celebrating 102nd birthday
Death came for others time and again.
Mortar shells brushed passed him and tore other soldiers in half.
At 102 years old, he was the last of six children, the last of his buddies who gathered for breakfast at the Burger King, and one of the last living veterans of World War II.
On Saturday, police, fire and ambulance companies in Langhorne held a celebratory parade for what would be resident Eugene Edwards’ final birthday. Hours later, Edwards, of Langhorne, would pass away at St. Mary Medical Center in the arms of his 69-year-old son.
“He wanted to go,” said his son, Dale. “He always knew he was living on borrowed time.”
Edwards was a quiet, funny, and deeply spiritual man who rarely spoke about his time with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division. “Dad was very proud of his service but he never talked about anything,” said Dale. “Those were painful memories.”
Looking back:At 100, Gene Edwards thanks God for being alive
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At his 100th birthday, members of Jesse Soby American Legion Post No. 148 arranged a celebration and began asking questions about Edwards’ military history and his Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat.
The 9th Infantry Division was one of the first units deployed in 1942 and saw combat in North Africa, Italy and France.
In a 2020 interview, Edwards shared part of his story.
“My first night there. I was about to dig a fox hole, but didn’t have a chance,” he said. “There were six Messerschmitt planes coming to strafe us. I ran over to railroad tracks and laid down; it was the only cover I had. A plane was coming right at me, guns blazing, two guns on each side of the motors. I felt the bullets beside me. I was scared. Don’t know how he missed me.
“Afterward, I got down on my knees right there in the railroad tracks and prayed,” Edwards said. “I thanked God. It was impossible I wasn’t killed right there. I was right in the open. No one’s going to tell me he wasn’t watching over me.”
According to the National Word War II Museum, only about 240,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are still alive today.
Edwards would continue that ritual of daily prayer, said his best friend Kevin Transue. When the bells atop the Langhorne United Methodist Church stopped working, Edwards paid to have them fixed.
“That first day in combat he said that prayer,” said Transue. “And, he would say that same prayer every day. He always felt that it was God that saved him.”
By all accounts, Edwards was the picture of health.
Every day, he would eat five strips of bacon, eggs and pancakes, friends said. He had a Manhattan cocktail at 3 each afternoon. He would often jump in his truck with his dog, Irene, and head to Core Creek Park for a walk.
At age 96, Edwards returned to Europe on a trip organized by the nonprofit Greatest Generation Foundation. On his return, Edwards talked mostly about the alcohol.
“I’ll never forget it,” said Transue. “He came back and told us, ‘It was top shelf booze all the way.'”
He also joked about his vitality. “He liked to watch women wrestling on TV,” said Transue. “He would say, ‘You’re never too old to look.'”
Edwards lived to see so much, and to lose so many friends and family.
“His mother died in 1934,” said Transue. “He would always say, ‘You lose your mother and you lose your best friend.’”
Born during the Depression, Edwards never went past eighth grade and started working to support his family as a teenager. After the war, he worked as an operational engineer for the James D. Morrissey construction company.
Most people in Langhorne knew Edwards, said state Rep. Frank Farry, a volunteer firefighter with the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Co. Farry’s office helped organize the parade of police, fire and ambulance trucks on Saturday night.
“Hours later, we get the alert and I could see it was Eugene’s house,” said Farry.
Paramedics responding to the house worked on Edwards for approximately 20 minutes and got his heart beating again. He was later transported to St. Mary, where he passed away shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday.
Edwards is survived by his son Dale; granddaughters Rachel Edwards and Rebecca Edwards; and five great grandchildren, Amora Anderson, 3, Anaya Anderson, 6, Aydin Anderson, 9, Jackson Petrarca, 10, Ethan Hillman, 15.
His last wish was to be buried alongside his late wife Anna at the cemetery beside the Middletown Friends Quaker Meeting House.
Contact reporter James McGinnis at [email protected]
