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PROFILE OF A
MUSEUM VOLUNTEER
Ed was born
August 16, 1927 in Weimar, Texas to Steve and Agnes
Svetlik. Ed’s unique
last name came from his father’s Czechoslovakian ethnicity.
Ed’s mother, Irene Woods, was an orphan at the Children’s Rescue
Mission in New York City until the age of three. At that tender age, she was
sent West on the Orphan Train, from which she was adopted by the Ben Witte
family, and her name was changed to Agnes. Steve and Agnes married on July
5, 1922. They farmed their
entire lives while raising their four children: Van Lee, Dorothy, Ed, and
Steve.
Ed attended
Weimar High School and learned a strong work ethic while growing up on the
family farm. On February 19,
1945, Ed enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in Houston, Texas, and reported
to the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California.
During his first week of Boot Camp, Ed came down with a case of
tonsillitis. He thought this
was “no big deal,” being the tough country boy he thought he was.
He expected an aspirin would be a quick fix, he would return to camp,
resume readiness training, and join his ship’s company in fighting the war
in the Pacific. However; the
folks at sick bay had other ideas.
Ed was caught by surprise, as the doctors kept him hospitalized for a
full three weeks of “patient care,” while he
polished brass and buffed the floors.
After Boot
Camp Ed was sent to Coronado, California for Amphibious training in
preparation for the United States’ invasion of Japan.
His training included on-beach assaults, instruction in hand-to-hand
combat, and maintenance of diesel-powered engines for the LCVP (small
landing craft) and LCM (large landing craft. He was then assigned to the
Boat Engineering Division Land Craft #63 (Boat Pool) in Long Beach,
California.
Ed, an
engineman on the LCVP, serviced and maintained all the diesel engines. Some
of the ships he serviced were the USS South Dakota BB57, the USS Texas BB45,
USS Arkansas BB33, USS Princeton aircraft carrier CV37, USS Yorktown
aircraft carrier CV10, USS Vicksburg CL89, and many others.
Ed was
discharged from the Naval Reserves in May, 1946, and moved to Victoria,
Texas, where he learned the welding trade by working in a machine and
welding shop. A year later, Ed
moved to Houston, where he worked at American Can Company, while completing
auto upholstery classes at the University of Houston.
With the
Cold War looming on the horizon Ed re-enlisted in the U S Navy May 17, 1948,
and began his second tour of duty.
Stationed at the San Diego Destroyer Base, he received orders to
report to Hunter’s Point on Treasure Island in San Francisco.
There, he was then assigned to the USS Buttner
AP113 (en route to Tsingtao, China) to stand throttle watch duty in the
Engine Room. Before shipping
out, Ed met his future wife, Rosemarie Helweg,
of San Francisco.
Upon
arriving in Tsingtao, China, Ed’s duty assignment was the Engine Room on the
LST 846, which was in dry-dock for repairs at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands.
About three weeks later, he and his crew received orders to fly with the
Army Air Force to the Island of Guam in the Pacific Region. Four days later,
they received orders to fly to Manila, in the Philippine Islands. From
Manila, they flew back to Subic Bay in a Navy PBY (seaplane).
The LST 846
returned to Tsingtao, China, to transport displaced persons from Tsingtao
and Shanghai to Formosa, and to other bases in Japan. Ed’s ship also
delivered ammunition to the Chinese Nationalists fighting the Communists on
its return to Tsingtao. On the
LST 846’s last trip down the famed Yangtze River, they cruised between the
crossfire of the Nationalists and the Communists. Their mission assignment
was to evacuate Army personnel from Nanking, China. While en route to
Shanghai, Ed’s ship was stranded on the rocky bottom of the Yangtze River,
and left high and dry by the receding tide.
The LST 846 was to be decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington.
While decommissioning their ship at Bremerton, Ed’s friend and fellow
fireman Tony Rogers, was working in the engine room, spraying the engine
with a preservative substance called Cosmoline,
when one of the safety lights ignited. It knocked Tony to the deck, giving
him first and second degree burns on his face and hands. At that moment, Ed
had just started his way topside when he heard the explosion below him. He
immediately returned to Tony, pulled him away from the burning engine and
began extinguishing the flames. Ed stayed with Tony until the emergency
service crew arrived and took him to the hospital. Tony is the only shipmate
that Ed has contact with to this day.
After the decommissioning of LST 846 in September, 1949, Ed received orders
to report for duty at the Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington. It was
there that he requested a rating change from Engineman to Metal Smith. Ed’s
Duty Station was on a Yard Repair Ship, but he slept and ate on the USS
Indiana that was docked nearby. During the Korean conflict, Ed was involved
with the commissioning of ships on which he did many types of welding and
repair jobs.
Ed and Rosemarie Helweg were married on April
15, 1950. They have seven children; Lorelei, Loretta, Edgar J., Ronald,
Steven, Joseph and Mark.
The Korean conflict was still going on when Ed’s three-year enlistment was
up in May, 1951. He was given the choice of receiving a bonus of two to
three hundred dollars to re-enlist for one full year or re-enlist for up to
one year without the bonus pay. This gave Ed the option to be discharged any
time before the year commitment was up. He turned down the full year
commitment with the bonus pay. Believing that service was still important,
he re-enlisted for one more year while hoping his service would not needed
for the entire year. He was transferred to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard
at Hunters Point in February, 1951. Among
the ships he helped recommission at
Bremerton and Hunter’s Point, were the USS Iowa, USS Princeton, USS Bon
Homme Richard, USS Hornet, USS Lexington, USS
Ticonderoga, USS Los Angeles, LST’S 898, 735, and 887. Ed was discharged at
Hunter’s Point a few weeks before his one year enlistment was up on April
28, 1952.
After Ed’s Navy service, he worked in construction with his father-in-law
building homes in Yreka, CA. A year later, Ed began work for Eastlake Mills
Lumber Company as a welder for two and half years. At the time, he was
taking a two-year home study course in diesel engineering from Greer Shop
Training, Inc... He completed the home study course, then spent six months
in Chicago, IL, for “hands-on training” in diesel engine, fuel injection and
hydraulic systems. Ed completed his training in 1956 and was hired by
Siskyou Tractor Co. in Yreka, CA; a John Deere
and Caterpillar Dealership. Ed worked there until June 1960,
then transferred to Fresno, CA.
He then went on to work for John Deere as a tractor and heavy
equipment repair field technician. Mark Vucovich
bought the Fresno Equipment Company dealership from John
Deere in May, 1961.
While at Fresno Equipment Company, Ed worked as a field technician,
repairman, and operator of the fuel injection pump room. Mr.
Vucovich, asked Ed to develop and supervise a
new in-house service technician training program, as John Deere Equipment
was getting more advanced. Ed
was the Shop Supervisor for many years; the last eight as Service Manager.
He ended his amazing career on June 7, 1989.
In 1998 Ed
received a call from Les Traeger, a member with
Ed in a Calif. LST organization. Les had asked Ed if he would like to be a
volunteer at the Fresno Veteran’s Memorial Museum. Ed has been volunteering
since Aug. 1998. He is in
charge of keeping the records and photographs of the members of the
prestigious “Legion of Valor”.
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