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Obituary
Ed died December 27, 1971, when an Air America C-123 (#293) in which he was a "Kicker" was shot down in Northern Laos near the Chinese Border. He trained at Cave Junction in 1964 as part of the first crew to go to Redmond, Oregon, and open the base there. Ed worked for Air America 1968-69 and was furloughed. He jumped at Redmond in 1970 and was severely injured. After recovering, he returned to Laos and Air America after the jump season in 1970. In 1997 a U.S. search team found the crash site. In October 2017 the remains of the crew were recovered and returned to the United States. Ed's remains are buried at the Eagle Point, Oregon, National Cemetery. Ed was born September 1942, in New York City and resided in Queens. He played football for Penn State for one year and went west to work as a logger in the Brookings, Oregon area before training as a smokejumper at Cave Junction in 1964. He was drafted into the army in 1964 and was part of the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell and sent to Vietnam for thirteen months. He served in the Highlands Campaign, where he was wounded and received a purple heart.
Identifier
Weissenback_Edward_Redmond_1964
Publication Date
January 2002
Keywords
Smokejumping; Smokejumpers -- United States; National Smokejumper Association; Wildfire fighters; Obituaries
Disciplines
Forest Management
Recommended Citation
National Smokejumper Association, "Smokejumper Obituary: Weissenback, Edward (Redmond 1964)" (2002). Smokejumper Obituaries. 1331.
https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_bios/1331
