Member Profile
Ed Reynolds - More than
a World Traveler
Ray Rosenbaum, reporter
We all know that Ed Reynolds is
a world traveler, having visited 193 countries that are members of the United
Nations, plus 10 or so “want-to-be” countries.
However, did you know that he retired from the U.S. Air Force after
serving at the Pentagon for six years and was selected to full colonel.
More on his military career
later. He began his global travels at
the tender age of 12, journeying from Connecticut across Canada, down to Baja
and returning via the Southern states with his stepfather, who had lots of
vacation time accrued during WW II as the government acceptance inspector of
Corsairs built in Connecticut.
Reynolds relates sorrowfully, that he went through World War II without his parents, who had divorced. Ed wound up in a Christian Science boys,
camp, then went K through 12 in Weston Connecticut. He spent his summers in Texas and later went
to Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas.
Born in 1935 in New York City,
he became eligible for the draft and enlisted in the USAF Aviation Cadet
program in 1957. He was commissioned as
a Second Lieutenant and awarded navigator wings in 1958 at Harlingen AFB, Texas
and assigned to SAC KC-97’s at Dow AFB, Bangor, Maine.
At the end of his enlistment,
he planned on leaving active duty to fly for Seaboard World Airlines, but
President Kennedy froze everyone on active duty for the Berlin Wall crisis and
he couldn't get out. He then was assigned
to Kindley AFB, Bermuda. During the
Cuban Missile Crisis, he flew reconnaissance missions in a KC-97 to track
Soviet ships and count the missiles on their decks.
In the late 1960’s he was
assigned to the Joint Strategic Targeting Planning Staff (JSTPS) and was in
charge of assigning all the free world’s strategic missiles.
Like Art Sherman, he was classified
as an Intelligence Officer and Ed served as the Senior Advisor to the Chief of
Vietnamese Air Force Intelligence at Tan Sot Nhut AB, 1971-72. After his Vietnam tour, he completed an MA at
the University of Nebraska and was assigned to the Pentagon in charge of the
USAF Aircraft Inventory. He was
responsible for the implementation of word processing and computer workstation
terminals throughout the Pentagon Air Staff.
After selection to full colonel
in 1979, he retired as a Lt. Colonel. to take a job at United Airlines'
computer department in San Francisco.
He continued his association
with the USAF, serving as president of the Tennessee Ernie Ford chapter of the
Air Force Assn. and then served as president of the Jimmy Doolittle Chapter in
Los Angeles. Pretty impressive,
huh? We have left out most of his
meritorious career since it would fill a book, which it has.
But the rest of his life is even
more interesting. Reynolds has a joyous
air about him, ever smiling and willing to share his adventures with
everyone. He's been married to Judy for
53 years, has two daughters, Wendy and Robin.
His father was an artist and young Ed posed for many Dutch Boy paintings
in wooden shoes.
Always a lucky guy, he won a
1953 MG in a contest for “Why I like my Paper Mate Pen” in 25 words or
less. I bought a similar car in the 50s
but dumped it later, but Ed was smarter and still has it today and shows it off
at car shows. He also drives a Mazda Miata.
He found out in his ’30s that he
has dyslexia, so he doesn't read much, instead listens to books on tape.
That did not stop him from
becoming an athlete, playing high school football as a 150 lb. lineman and
later served as manager of the SMU football team. Ed has run several marathons, but wore his
knee out and had to quit running and replace it
He stopped traveling in
November and now works out three times a week, having lost over 20 pounds.
Reynolds' latest adventure is
as the publisher of this newsletter for Wings Over Wendy's, having taken over for
Neil Baliber, who served meritoriously.
As he has done with everything
else in his life, Ed is bound to succeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment