Ed Bruner is a Veteran of World War II. He was drafted into the service in 1944 at the tail end of World War II. Bruner served as part of the United States Air Force. His length of service was 18 months and two days. Even at 96 years of age, that was one detail that Ed did not forget. Bruner spent his training at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. This is also where he did his advanced individual training (AIT) starting out on kitchen police duty and eventually moving to a military police position as soon as it opened. Ed can remember that for most of his service that he drove a Jeep. He shared that one of his experiences as an Air Force MP was finding the culprit that stole some candy from the canteen.

Ed was born and raised in Geddes. When he was drafted it was one of the first times that he had ever left the area. He admitted that he became homesick from all the traveling that the draftees had to do via bus to get to their different destinations. Ed truly thought that when he was drafted that he would be sent overseas and, in all honesty, he feels that he would have liked to have been stationed overseas. As a country boy, it would have been a place that he had never been to before. The only two things that Ed would have done differently during his service time would have been that he would have liked to stay in long enough to get a higher rank and he would have liked to have been able to fly.

During his service, Ed received a marksman award.

When Ed had finished his military service, he returned home to Geddes. He decided to help his father farm while doing that he met his beautiful wife, Betty Durham, of 75 years and still counting at a dance held at Rest Haven. When asked what made him want to pursue Betty, he said, “she was pretty”. The couple was blessed with four children, 13 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren. After Ed and Betty married, Ed rented a farm with the intentions of farming. Unfortunately, he was not able to find available farm land and had to take a different route to support his family. Ed attended the University of South Dakota at Springfield where he received his degree in mechanics. He worked at many different gas stations before working for the Fort Randall Dam. Ed also worked for the Charles-Mix Highway Department as well as the White Swan Township.

Ed and Betty are lifelong Charles-Mix County residents who were from the Geddes area, but have spent the last 55 years in Lake Andes. Ed is a lifetime member of the Geddes American Legion and has held the office of commander for the unit. He has served as a councilman and mayor for Geddes. He was a very active member of the Geddes Fire Department. Throughout the years, Ed has been a very active member of the St. Ann Catholic Church as well as St. Mark’s Catholic Church. He has been a member of the church council, held all of the offices and is a Knight of Columbus member. Over the years, Ed participated in several hobbies including hunting, fishing and fixing old cars. He enjoyed hunting jackrabbits as well as fishing for mostly bullheads in Lake Geddes every weekend. As a mechanic, he enjoyed tinkering with old cars and getting them to run. When asked what his dream vintage car would be, he said the 1954 Ford which was called the “Fab X.' He said that this was his favorite as it was the first car that had hydraulics.

Thank you, Ed, for your service and for being the August Veteran of the Month.