Edward H. Morrissette

Ed was born on July 27, 1923 in Rocky Mount North Carolina to Ernest (a prominent accountant) and Tempie Morrissette. Ed spent his childhood years, along with his brother and only sibling Ernie, living in an affluent household. Ed often described the family living in a mansion with maids, butlers, and a chauffer driven limousine. However, along came the great depression which, combined with parental alcoholism, decimated the family’s fortune, and Ed soon found himself living in a very dysfunctional home with divorced parents. His mother moved him and his brother to Virginia Beach, Virginia where they lived in an apartment above a hardware store. Ed and his brother spent some of their time in Virginia living with an aunt. Ed attended high school there and spent his free time roaming though local woods and swimming in the ocean. He enjoyed amateur boxing, fishing and hunting.

In his later teen years his thoughts turned to joining the military, partly to escape from his tumultuous family life, and partly to seek adventure and see the big world. On January 15, 1941 Ed enlisted in the US Army by lying about his age, he was only 17. Given several choices by the recruiter, he chose to serve in the famous First Infantry Division, otherwise known as “The Big Red One”. For the next four and a half years he was either in training or fighting the Germans and Italians in the European theater. Ed’s first experience with battle was in North Africa after he and his 16th infantry regiment landed in Oran. They worked their way steadily east and one evening found themselves bivouacking on a hillside across from the Kasserine Pass where British Field Marshal Montgomery and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel carried out their famous desert tank battle. Ed was in a machine gun foxhole with another soldier on the hillside when a German dive bomber attacked them. When the bomb released from the plane, everyone except Ed took cover. Ed fired his machine gun at the bomb and plane, resulting in the plane flying away smoking and on fire. For his act of bravery he was awarded the Bronze Star.

His 16th infantry regiment then moved into position to launch an amphibious assault on Sicily; they encountered little resistance from the Italians and Germans and handily marched into and liberated Palermo. Ed remembered seeing General Patton many times during this campaign. From Sicily he and his comrades moved their way up into Italy, and were just about to enter southern Europe when they were called back to England for training for an unknown reason. Little did they know at the time that they were being trained for the D-Day invasion. On the morning of June 6, 1944 Ed was among thousands of other men on ships crossing the English Channel, headed for Normandy France and the beach code-named Omaha. In the second wave of men going ashore, Ed and his best friend Andrew “Jake” Jacobsen (whom he would be reunited with some 60 years later) jumped into neck deep water under heavy German machine gun and sniper fire. They finally made it to the top of the beach after being pinned down by an enemy machine gunner for over an hour. When Ed’s son Steve asked him whether scenes in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” were realistic, he replied “Yes I saw many similar scenes on that beach that day”. When asked whether the movie was hard to watch he replied “Hey, been there, done that!” That was Ed to a T. He did what he had to do at the time, and after the war he got on with life.

After D-Day he and his regiment fought their way down through France, ending up in Belgium for the Battle of the Bulge and other key battles. When marching through Czechoslovakia on the way to Germany in 1945, the troops received word that the war had ended. He was discharged from the Army in September 1945. Much later, in 2019, Ed was awarded the French Legion of Honor medal for his participation in the liberation of France, the decree was signed by French president Macron. .

Ed continued to show his sense of duty and patriotism after the war by earning his bachelor’s degree from Indiana Tech in civil engineering on the GI bill. It was during his college years that he met his wife of 65 years Doris, a local farm girl from a nearby town where most people were of German ancestry and they also spoke German, on a blind date. He used to say how uncomfortable he was when he’d visit Doris because he had recently returned from fighting the Germans and Doris and her family all spoke fluent low German at home. His first job after college was at North American aircraft in Los Angeles where he was on the design team for the wing of the F-86 Sabre Jet, America’s first operational swept wing jet fighter and the plane that is credited with turning the tide in the Korean War. After a few years Doris was homesick for Indiana so Ed took a job with the Indiana highway department for a few years. Ed heard about Air Force jobs from his brother Ernie, and after applying he was hired as an Air Force civil engineer at Langley Air Force Base Virginia. It was at this time that a medical doctor advised Ed and Doris to move to a drier desert-like climate to help their son Rick with his asthma. Ed applied for work at March AFB in Riverside California and moved the family, now including son Rick, daughter Denise, and son Steve to Riverside in 1957. After 15 years in Riverside the family now included sons Mark and Jeffry, and Doris was again homesick so Ed secured a position at Strategic Air Command (SAC) Headquarters at Offutt AFB in Omaha Nebraska. After nine years acting as the Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Ed retired from civil service in 1981. He then spent 3 years as the Chief of Contracts at the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). Post OPPD, Ed settled into a more traditional retirement, but stayed active doing such things as attending activities at the Papillion Gun Club, driving the Papillion City bus, and acting as president of the local American Legion post. Ed and Doris were faithful and active Lutheran church-goers their entire married life. Even after Doris’ death in 2017, Ed was very active in First Lutheran Church and then Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Papillion, serving in several leadership roles.

Throughout his life Ed enjoyed outdoor recreational activities the most. His sons will always have fond memories of the trout fishing and hunting excursions he took them on, both while still residing in southern California, and in Nebraska from 1972 and after. The many pheasant hunts with groups of his Air Force friends and colleagues, who nicknamed themselves “The Sons of SAC”, were particularly memorable and entertaining.

Ed was known and loved by his friends and family for his affable nature, his honesty and integrity, his courage, and his ready smile and infectious laugh. Ed genuinely loved people, and they in turn loved him back. People were drawn to him, and he made countless friends throughout his life. He touched a lot of people in his earthly journey. Ed particularly loved his wife of 65 years and his five children and was proud of them and their accomplishments and successes in life. He has five grandchildren who he also loved dearly and was proud of each. Rick and Kate’s daughter Marisa who is a graphic designer, Denise and Bernie’s son James who is a business entrepreneur. Steve and Theresa’s son Neil who is an electrical engineer, Mark and Heather’s daughter Madison who is a licensed attorney, and then there’s Jeff and Beth’s son Eddie who will soon graduate with a mechanical engineering degree and will enter the Air Force as a commissioned officer. All of Ed’s children are pleased, as we are sure he is, that soon there will be another Edward Morrissette proudly serving his country in the United States Air Force.

In summary Ed will be sorely missed by many, but particularly by his family. The examples he set and the life lessons he gave to his children are too numerous to count. He was in many ways the best father anyone could hope for. May he rest in eternal peace.

Ed was preceded in death by his wife, Doris Morrissette (Fuelling); parents, Ernest and Tempie Morrissette (Zolicoffer); and brother, Ernest Morrissette.

He is survived by his children, Richard (Kate) Morrissette, Denise (Bernie) Asbell, Steven (Theresa) Morrissette, Mark (Heather) Morrissette, and Jeffry (Beth) Morrissette; grandchildren, Marisa Morrissette, James Jeffries, Neil Morrissette, Madison Morrissette, and Edward Morrissette.

MEMORIAL SERVICE Friday, August 16, 2024 10:30am at First Lutheran Church, Papillion. PRIVATE INURNMENT at Omaha National Cemetery.