Edward Francis "Fitz" Fitzgerald

SGT in 406th Engineer Combat Co

Military occupational specialty: 812 (heavy weapons NCO)

ASN#32863354

Born 1916 in NY, Died 2009

County of residence at enlistment: New York County, NY

Other residence(s): Brooklyn, NY; Bronx, NY; Croton-on-Hudson, NY

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: foremen, manufacturing

Source: Special Order 19, 23d HQ, Camp Forrest, 7 April 1944; ; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...; photograph courtesy Cecelia Fitzgerald

Ed "Fitz" Fitzgerald was born on April 26, 1916 in Brooklyn, NY, the middle of three children. His father was a sheet metal worker, and later a taxi driver.

He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and went to work. By 1940, the family had moved across the river to Manhattan. Fitz was working at William W. Constad & Co. when he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. He married Elvira Patricia “Pat” Callahan on October 24, 1942 at the Church of Corpus Christi in New York City.

He was living in the Bronx when he enlisted, on March 15, 1943, and, with a number of other men from New York and New Jersey, found himself on a train headed south for basic training. There he joined the newly activated 293^rd Engineer Combat Battalion. On April 7, 1944, Company A of the 293^rd was officially reassigned and renamed as the 406^th Engineer Combat Company, and the unit boarded a ship to England in early May. Fitz had worked as a manufacturing foreman prior to entering the Army, and he was assigned the role of construction foreman with the 406th.

Fitz and Pat had one last visit in Tennessee before he shipped out, and their daughter Kathleen was born in December, 1944. He was discharged from the Army on September 18, 1945 with the rank of SGT and returned to his family in New York. The couple would go on to have three more children: Estelle, John, and Cecilia. Fitz also had a daughter, Patricia, from a prior relationship.

In 1950, Fitz was working as a foreman in a house/office cleaning company. He also took on the additional job of building superintendent in a neighboring building. His work history included working for UPS (as a truck driver), Ballantine Beer, and Schaefer Beer (as a delivery driver).

The family moved to Croton-on-Hudson, NY in 1963. The house was a new build and Fitz asked the builder to leave the second floor unfinished; he finished it himself. His daughter remembers him as "the guy who could do anything.”

Elvira was ill off and on, and died in November, 1967 when their youngest child was only 14. Fitz had to become both mother and father to his teenage children; his daughter recalls that he taught her to cook and clean, and helped her with some sewing projects.

An avid skier prior to WWII, he took up skiing again later in life and again when he retired. He was a member of the 70+ (and later the 80+) Ski Club. He stopped skiing when he was 87 because he was afraid someone would knock him down.

He also pursued photography as a hobby. He had drifted away from it during the years when his children were young, but returned to it in retirement. He was a member of the Volunteer Fire Department in Croton-on-Hudson, NY and served as their photographer, receiving an award for 20 years of active service when he was 89 years old.

He was also a member of the American Legion Leroy Gregory Post in Tuckahoe, NY.

Fitz suffered from congestive heart failure near the end of his life, and spent his last few months in the New York State Veterans Home in Montrose, NY. He died on September 17, 2009 and is buried at Bethel Cemetery in Croton-on-Hudson.