A Hero's Honor

By Christine McDonald

"You look at the biography of Edward Flanagan, the word that comes to mind is incredible. Faced with perhaps our Nation's the darkest hour, America definitely needed for men to step up to the answer of our nations call. From 1942 to 1946 Ed Flanagan served our country. . . Ladies and Gentleman we are in the presence of a hero."

 

On this cool windy day, he stood tall as he listened to the speech made in his honor presented by Maj. General Campbell. A huge smile brightens his face. Other veterans were present with eyes full of tears and silent recognition. His family and friends gathered around him. This was his day. At age 82, Edward Flanagan was being presented his high school diploma and a coin from the commanding general from the 10th mountain division. This honor was granted June 2, 2001, through a program called "Operation Recognition" which honors veterans with diplomas they would've earned if they had not joined the military.

Most veterans just receive their diploma but Edward was lucky. His daughter Lou is a hairdresser for the General at Fort Drum and asked the General if he would present the diploma. This was a great honor and was an exciting landmark for Ed.

Edward Flanagan was born on January 8, 1919, in Cairo, West Virginia. He was born at 6am; the doctor was called and arrived on horse and buggy at 9am. He was the 2nd oldest of 12 and was raised in a small rural village. His father had purchased a house for the family for $2500, which was heated by gas. Because there were so many siblings, there were 2 or 3 kids sharing a bed.

When he was just in grade school he worked in a general store making 75 cents a day. He would earn 10 cents per delivery for delivering groceries on a 4-wheel wagon. Life was difficult for Ed growing up. His parents had little money and were hit hard during the depression. Feeding a family of 12 during this time was extremely difficult.

A typical day for him consisted of getting up every morning at 7:30 a.m. Breakfast usually consisted of oatmeal. Other times his mother would make a fried corn meal mush which was kind of like cream of wheat. Rarely, did his family have any meat to prepare for any meals in their home. Everything had to be used during this time. Even flour sacks were returned for a penny. To this day Ed still doesn't like to waste anything and is disturbed by how much food we waste in our country today.

Christmas was not the usual happy time in the Flanagan family. The children had no gifts under the tree. The other children at school would talk about Santa Claus and excitedly share about the gifts they received. "Santa Claus didn't come to our house," and he didn't know what to say when the other kids talked about Santa Claus.

As a child, Ed would get home from school at 4:00 everyday and play with his friends. If he weren't home by 9:00 he would get locked out of his house and would consequently have to sleep on the porch.

Some of his happier memories involved swimming with his brothers in the summer at a local river and ice-skating in the winter. Because of the continued financial struggles his family faced, he quit school when he finished the 10th grade as the depression hit and he wanted to help his family by going to work. He was fortunate to get a job working for the CCC's The Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC when he was 18 years old. He made $35.00 a month, of which $25.00 went to his parents. $5.00 could go pretty far back then. He was in training as a 1A in the army (1A meant that he was next in line to go to war) for World War II. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any work because and type of job he applied for didn't want to take the time to train him because he was next in line to go to war. While he was training for WWII, he was sent to Camp Drum, NY (now Ft. Drum). One day a cousin introduced him to a woman named Julia Boni whom he eventually married after only knowing her for a few months.

After only two weeks of marriage and a brief honeymoon in Governeur, NY, he went to war as a tank commander for the fifth armored division in Europe. He was separated from Julia for 2 years with only written letters as their only communication. This was a hard separation, Ed said, "you went around with a broken heart all the time."

The major battles his division fought were in Ardennes, Central Europe, Northern France and Rhineland in the European Theater of Operations. His division fought in the "Battle of the Bulge" and the battle at Hurtgen Forest, which he felt, was the bloodiest and messiest battle fought. He lost half of his company in those battles. To this day Ed wonders if there was something he could have or should have done differently in order to save the men in his unit.

Through his war experiences he did earn two purple hearts.

After a total of four years later, he came back from war and got a temporary job paying $1.25 per hour working for Railway express. He got this job immediately because he was Irish (his last name is Flanagan) and the person who did the hiring only hired Irish people. He tried to get a job at the NY Telephone Company but they wouldn't hire him because he didn't have a high school diploma. This frustrated Ed as he had served and protected his country and now was being denied employment without a diploma.

Eventually, the temporary job with Railway express came to an end after three months. His wife worked full time at New York Telephone Company for a few months to help support them. Eventually, he got another job working for a labor union that built churches and schools and that also paid well but was only temporary. At last, he got a permanent full time job as a maintenance man, working for a paper company called Black and Clawson. However, his wages took a nosedive from making $1.25 to $.75 per hour, which was very disappointing to him after being at war for four years. He retired from Black and Clawson after 35 years of service. Recently he lost his medical and life insurance benefits through that company because they went bankrupt.

After he was married he and his wife had six children. Life became simpler after his children left home. At this point in his life Ed was hoping when he retired that he and his wife would move to Florida but they remained in Northern New York to remain close to family. He hasn't had any desire to travel to Europe (especially after WWII).

Today Ed is 85 years old and is in excellent physical and mental health. He and Julia have 14 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. In November 2003, they renewed their vows and they attended a 60th wedding anniversary party in their honor. One of their grandchildren presented them with a scrapbook consisting of pictures of their history together. This was a special moment for Julia and Ed.

Ed and Julia went through a difficult time recently. In February 2004, Julia was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer. Fortunately, all of the cancer was removed and she is now recovering after a successful surgery.

Christine McDonald is a professional freelance writer from Raleigh, NC.

A Hero's Honor

Published in U.S. Legacies: September 2004