Edwin Kaye: Oops, I Joined Without My Buddy

By Ellen Walsh, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interviews Volunteer

Edwin Kaye grew up in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago, the youngest of five boys. His father served in WWI, two older brothers served in WWII, and two brothers served in Korea, so he came from a family who believed in serving their country.

Ed graduated from Gordon Tech in June, 1954 and was working at the Board of Trade. He tells the story: It was New Year’s Eve 1954, Ed and his close childhood friend, Jerry, from across the street, were at a party. “After having a few drinks, Jerry said, ‘You know we should join the Army.’ And of course, I said, sure, we can join the Army. He said, ‘We can go in on the buddy system and go through Basic and everything together.’ I said, good idea, let’s do it.”

“On January 3, 7:30 in the morning the phone rings. Jerry says, ‘We are going to join today, aren’t we?’ I had completely forgot about our conversation the night before. Well of course I couldn’t refuse, could I? So, I said, It’s no problem, I’ll see you later.”

Ed called in sick from work so he and Jerry could go to their local draft board. He went through the signing process, when the draft lady asked when he wanted to go. Ed answered, “What the hell, the sooner the better, right Jerry, who agreed.” January 24 would be his induction date. Jerry had recently moved from across the street and the friends were no longer in the same draft board. When Jerry went to his local draft board, it was determined his induction date would be July 28. “So, I’m signed up to go in January and Jerry’s not.”

Now, Ed had a problem. “I couldn’t go home and tell my parents that I am going in the Army. I tried to intercept my draft notice from the mailman, but I couldn’t and my parents got it. They didn’t talk to me for days.”

So, on January 24, 1955 Ed boarded the train for Fort Leonard Wood. “They took us off the train in St. Louis to board buses for Fort Leonard Wood. However that base had a massive pneumonia problem and all the recruits were being sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. But that was now terribly overcrowded. Chaffee was now running out of clothes and was issuing what they had. They gave me boots from 1940, the ones with the buckles on the side.”

After only a week, he got shipped out to Fort Bliss, Texas. “When my dad finally talked to me he said that if I could get in the 5th Army, he could get me into any school I wanted. He worked for the 5th Army in personnel. We get to Fort Bliss, and of course Bliss is in the 4th Army. We arrived on open trucks, and we can see 5-man huts, thinking we won’t be in the barracks, these will be great. We count off by 5 and are assigned a hut. We open the door; the floor sloped at about a 20-degree angle, with no boards in back, and 5 bunk beds. These had been prisoner of war huts, and had been condemned in 1945. This was to be our home for 9 weeks of Basic Training.”

“After Basic, they were looking for 12 guys for the infantry. I was still looking to go to the 5th Army. Infantry school was in Fort Riley Kansas, which is 5th Army, so I raised my hand. We ended up going to Fort Ord California, which is 6th Army. This is where I took my advanced training. It was a beautiful place.”

From there, it was on to Fort Lewis Washington for Edwin. “I was made a Machine Gunner. An IG inspection (General Inspection) had been scheduled for the next week. As the Colonel was going through the ranks, he comes to me and I eject the clip out of my gun, and it falls out of my hand into the dirt. I am thinking why me? Back then, I still had my full Polish last name, Koszycki. The colonel asks if I am Polish and where I am from. ‘Yes, sir, I am from Chicago.’ He says that after West Point, his first platoon was a bunch of Polack’s from Philadelphia, and the best damn fighters he ever had. He asks if I have any brothers in the service. I tell him about my dad being wounded in France during WWI and two of my brothers in WWII, one in Europe and one in the South Pacific.”

“So, he picks me as the Soldier of the Battalion, and at the regiment I was picked as Regimental Soldier for the IG inspection. All this got me sent back to Fort Ord for leadership school, then sent back to Fort Lewis as a Drill Instructor.”

As a D.I. Ed had more of a relaxed style, and didn’t believe in getting the guys up in the middle of night. “Do as I say, keep the barracks clean, don’t try and screw with me, and we will get along. I know a lot of them didn’t like me but I never had a group leave that they didn’t pitch in and buy me something as a thank you.”

“One time we were out on the transition course, and we had a bunch of dynamite left after an exercise, nitro starch they call it. There was a whole case left. We didn’t want to turn it in because next time we would only get one of the two cases we needed. So, we decided to blow it up. We were goofy instructors and didn’t know. We stuck a fuse in the nitro starch, put it under a box and got behind a sand hill. POP. The nitro starch didn’t blow, it just popped. I drew the short straw and had to reset the fuse. I got out next to the box and a guy behind me yells. BOOM!!! When it finally went off, it shook Fort Lewis.”

While at Fort Lewis, Ed and his buddies bought a 1939 Hudson Terraplane. “It was built like a tank. After a little bit to drink, we painted it olive drab with a white star on the back door. We’d go down to the rifle range, and everyone thought it was officers coming. We got in trouble a couple of times. The lieutenant would salute, and we’d get out, and he’d yell at us for being in a staff car until we told him it was our own car.”

After discharge, he and his buddies went to California. “We spent all our money and had to work in the fields.” Heading back to Chicago, they got as far as Phoenix where the car broke down. Rather than spend a few hundred dollars to repair the car, they left it. They worked the wheat harvest back to North Dakota, as they continued on to Chicago.

When Ed arrived in Chicago, “I started college but dropped out. I went to work as a traveling salesman. That is when I changed my last name from Koszycki to Kaye.. I sold yarn, notions, and needlepoint to department stores. I covered 7 states, I traveled a lot and I enjoyed it – I still do.” Until recently, Ed was still working part-time at the local Jewel.

Ed was married and has two sons, Rob, Greg and three grandchildren. He is very active in the American Legion, and still keeps in close touch with two of his drill instructor buddies.

Ed Kaye, thank you for your service and sharing your stories with us. Enjoy your day of honor!