Ed enlisted in July 1943. After fighting in seven battles in N. Africa he was captured at Kasserine by Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps.

He spent two years in Stalag 2B where he labored on a farm and in the camp shoe shop. After two weeks on the "Death March" Ed and four other POW's escaped from the line and hid under a chicken coop. Ed could see out through the narrow space as the Germans searched for them. At one time he saw a pair of black shining boots standing so close he could have touched them.

When the Germans left the area Ed and his comrades headed towards the Russian line. They were encountered by a German guard on a road in Poland. Ed said that he was leading a work crew, and they walked right into a concentration camp. A British Sgt. helped them escape a second time by hiding them in a coal bin for three days.

The first three that got out were captured when their footprints in the snow led the Germans to follow them. Ed and another POW escaped. Fleeing through forests, town to town, for three months, Ed met up with American troops in Naples. He returned to the US on the Queen Mary.

Ed and his wife Mary are the authors of the book Twice to Freedom (Available on Amazon).