MILITARY WEEK: PART 4
In honor of Veterans Day, all this week we’ve been profiling veterans from all walks of life in the Desert Southwest. News 11 spoke with one man who served in the Korean war.
Ed Miknaitis served our country as an aircraft technician in the Marine Corps, but he recalls a time he was faced to deal with a combat situation and tell us his story.
“I bet I can put in for Korea, every month I was putting in for Korea. Two months later, they did give me a chance to go,” said Ed.
“Why did you want to go?” News 11 asked.
“Why did I want to go? because that’s where the fun was,” said Ed.
Born in Barry, Massachusetts, Ed Miknaitis got recruited right out of High School to join the draft, he describes it as an experience of a lifetime.
He and a bunch of other soon to be marines were on their way to Parris island for boot camp.
His hopes of being an Aircraft Technician were coming true.
After Memphis, he was transferred to El Toro, California. It wasn’t long after that he was then sent to Korea.
While there he was given a new position.
“Since I was a staff sergeant at that time, they put me in the bomb dump,” said Ed.
The ‘Bomb Dump’ is a place where they store extra ammunition and different types of weapons.
“There’s only one man that goes into a bomb dump at night, they give you an m-1 and ammunition. No flashlights, no batteries. If I needed somebody and someone is coming through the wires, I might have to shoot up in the air a couple shots,” said Ed.
That was the only way his fellow marines knew he was in trouble. Ed recalls that whole experience as being surreal especially at that time of his life.
“19 year-old kid in a bomb dump and all these things on the ground, you know. You’re looking at them and you think when can this blow up, you know? That was something,” said Ed.
After that experience, Ed went on to be a full on aircraft technician and then Data Analyst at Marine Corps Air station Yuma. He liked the Desert Southwest so much that he traded in the Massachusetts snow for the sunny skies of Arizona and retired here. He currently lives in Yuma with his wife Linda.
