Photo In Uniform |
Service Details |
|
|
Last Rank
Sergeant
|
Last Service Branch
Armor
|
Last Primary MOS
11E10-Armor Crewman
|
Last MOS Group
Armor (Enlisted)
|
Primary Unit
1968-1969, Valley Forge General Hospital
|
Service Years
1966 - 1969
|
Official/Unofficial US Army Certificates
Order of the Spur
|
|
|
Last Photo |
Personal Details
|
|
|
Home State
 Michigan | |
|
Year of Birth 1947 |
|
This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ John Moore (SaberAlpha 10)
to remember
Wilmers, Edward Leon, SGT USA(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
|
|
Contact Info
|
Home Town Detroit |
Last Address Not Specified |
|
Date of Passing Jan 21, 2014 |
|
Location of Interment Mount Loretto Cemetery - Lapeer, Michigan |
Wall/Plot Coordinates 62E 007 |
|
|
|
|
Last Known Activity Edward Leon WILMERS, B Troop 3/4 Cav, died 21 Jan 2014 from wounds received On May 17 , 1968. He will be added to "The Wall" in a ceremony this May. He received shrapnel wounds to his head from an RPG that hit his tank and left him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. It was his first day in the field with 1st Platoon Bravo Troop 3/4 Cavalry.
Ed was buried with military honors in the Loretto Cemetery at Lapeer, MI.
|
|
Other Comments:
Comments from Dennis Roe: Friend and Crewmember
Chris Hemminger and I met with Ed's brother Ron just after Ed's death in 2014. We determined to work toward getting his name added to the wall.
Ed came over from Germany to Vietnam and came to B-Troop, 1st Platoon to be a T.C on a tank on May 17, 1968. I was called off another tank to make a full crew for a replacement tank that Ed came out to the field with that day. Barry Anderson was the gunner, I was the loader, and the driver was a guy we called "Wormy." Ed and I were from the same hometown area, Lapeer, Michigan. I really didn't know Ed personally as he was a year ahead of me in high school. However, I knew his dad and even purchased my high school graduation suit from him. It's a small world. Ed and I talked until the wee hours of the morning, just before we were hit. I woke up to a barrage of RPGs just before dawn. Ed and Barry had taken shelter behind the tank where they were sleeping when an RPG hit nearby wounding Ed. From that date until his death in 2014 he was a quadriplegic.
I visited Ed and his family from time to time through the years. It was tough. He couldn't even talk. He had to blink his eyes to communicate. I moved to the west coast and so didn't see Ed much the last 20 plus years. However, after sharing Ed's situation with other of our Cav brothers, who live in Michigan, a number took up visiting him. So my personal thanks go out to them, Santino Carrabbio, Chris Hemminger, and Dick Himler.
My heart is heavy as I think of what Ed suffered captured in his body for 46 years, but it is filled with joy to know that he will have his name among those honored ones remembered on The Wall.
Paratus et Fidelis,
Dennis Roe, 3/4 Cavalry Association Board of Officers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
1966-1967, 3rd Infantry Division
|
|
1967-1967, 11E20, NCO Academy (Cadre) Fort Stewart, GA
|
|
1967-1968, 11E20, 3rd Infantry Division
|
|
1968-1968, 11E10, HHT, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry
|
|
1968-1968, 11E10, 25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lightning)
|
|
1968-1969, Valley Forge General Hospital
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|