National MIA/POW Recognition Day

Not too long after the opening of the Mid America Flight Museum, the staff and volunteers of the museum began to encounter a good number of truly special heroes. One such hero we have become good friends with is Mr. Ed Snow. On behalf of our team, we would like to say a few things about Mr. Snow on this special day. Today has been set aside as the National MIA/POW Recognition Day in our country and we are thinking of Mr. Snow today along with the many other soldiers who went missing in action and or were at one time, prisoners of war.

In September of 1943, Ed Snow left high school early that he could enlist in the United States Army, to do his part in defense of freedom. Ed even had to use a bit of skullduggery, to accomplish this, as it required he forge his parents signatures granting him consent to enlist in the military at that young age. Enlist he did, and he volunteered to train as a paratrooper.

Ed would find himself, a 17 year old jumping into history and into Normandy on D-Day.

The jump took place at night and due to circumstances, he and some of the other paratroopers landed many miles from their intended drop zone, which had been at St. Mere Eglise. This was Ed’s first combat jump and he would go on to fight in the Battle of Bulge, where some intense fighting took place. Ed would again jump into the history of combat, in Holland as a part of Operation Market Garden. Operation “Market” was the airborne portion of the operation in which the troopers were tasked with seizing bridges at strategic locations while “Garden” represented the ground forces that would join up with their Airborne counterparts.

Ed would continue to serve into the Korean Conflict also when he participated with the 187th (RCT) in several combat jumps, being captured eventually by the Chinese and held as a POW for 14 months until the cease fire that resulted in the release of POWS from both sides and in the short term anyway, the end of the hostilities. Ed’s Injuries received in the conflict were such that he was no longer able to jump any and not desiring to continue in the military while he could no longer jump, he elected to exit the military after 10 years of honorable service.

After his military service Ed returned to the United States touring the countryside racing automobiles ultimately learning to repair televisions, and opening his own business. Ed would marry and remain so for 51 years until his wife passed away but they had raised a family. Ed remains proud of not only his family but his time in the United States Army.

Ed Snow received numerous medals and decorations including a Bronze Star and a two purple hearts. With too many awards to list here, Ed remains actively interested in commemorating the history of World War II and The Korean War. He is a regular visitor at the Mid America Flight Museum and has made a handful of trips in the museum’s vintage war birds.

In one of Ed’s trips with the museum, he was caught peering out of a window of the museum’s DC3/C47 Sky King, which was also a veteran of the D-Day Invasion. He commented later that as he gazed out onto the airplane’s wing, it was the D-Day stripes on the wing that really brought it all back to mind for him.

He said the troopers and the crews did not know about the identification stripes being painted on the wings until they arrived at the planes that night to ready for flight. Ed said that his pack he jumped with weighted one hundred and forty pounds and that there were some men who carried packs as much as one hundred and seventy pounds.

Mid America Flight Museum is very glad we can find small ways to honor heroes like Sergeant Ed Snow and other veterans. We are grateful for not only his service but also for those most arduous of times, he spent as prisoner of war. Remember the old saying….”POWs Never Have a Nice Day.” They endured more than most of us can even imagine.

GOD BLESS YOU MR. ED SNOW from the Mid America Flight Museum Team. We will try to add a few more photos of Mr. Snow as we get them.