At age 16, Eddie Duran left his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and moved to Seattle to enter a machinist training program. His parents had serious illnesses and could not work, so he became a unionized worker on
At age 16, Eddie Duran left his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and moved to Seattle to enter a machinist training program. His parents had serious illnesses and could not work, so he became a unionized worker on Boeing B-17 bombers and supported them financially.
In 1941, he was drafted into the U.S. Army to support the Second World War effort. By that time, his parents had died.
During his years abroad, he participated in the Normandy landings (D-Day), fought against the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge and liberated Dachau concentration camp prisoners.
Eddie said he was supposed to fight in Japan, but just as he was boarding a ship in France bound for Japan he heard people hollering, “The World War is over! Truman dropped the bomb on Japan and they surrendered!” President Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop the bombs likely saved his life, he said.
The abrupt end to the war took Eddie by surprise, especially after her learned the atomic bomb originated near his hometown in New Mexico.
Decorated with medals, Eddie returned to Seattle after the war to resume hi