US Navy Lieutenant Edward Henry Eisengrein was born in New York City, New York on July 1, 1919, the son of Edward Adam Eisengrein (1891-1961) and Elizabeth Kilian (1896-1992). His father supported his family as a yeoman in the US Navy stationed in New York City in 1920. There, he would remain as a timekeeper for the city's railroad in the early 1930s. By 1940, his father was still a timekeeper for the railroad but in Utica, New York. As for their son Edward, he would graduate from high school around 1937 before enrolling in Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He would graduate in 1941 before enlisting in the US Navy flight program.
Afterwards, he was sent to NAS Pensacola for flight training earning his wings in 1942. While in training in Pensacola he met a young lady, who was working at the Ft. Barrancas headquarters as a clerk/stenographer. Miss Vivian Elizabeth Brewton "Ditty" (1921-2018) was a graduate of Pensacola High School in the Class of 1938. Prior to Ft. Barrancas she was working as a saleswoman at J. J. Newberry Company in downtown Pensacola. In the meantime, Vivian and Edward were married in 1942 and set up housekeeping. Edward had been retained by the Navy at NAS as an instructor in Squadron #3 at Ellyson Field.
But the war was entering its final stage of the war and the fighting was becoming even more intense. They needed their more experienced pilots in the South Pacific, so Edward was rotated out of Pensacola and was assigned to the fleet carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11). There, he was placed in their VB-11 Squadron as a dive bomber pilot. Mission after mission followed as the ship struck the Japanese trying to eliminate or severely damage their airpower in the area. To fulfill this objective, Admiral Halsey split his naval force sending Task Group 38.2 along with the carrier Intrepid to the island of Ulithi on October 1, 1944. But because of an approaching typhoon the group chose to ride out the storm in open water for the next two days. Afterwards, they conducted bombing missions in the Philippines before heading northwest to join Halsey's main Task Force #38. Upon arrival off the island of Okinawa they resumed the bombing of enemy airfields, shipping facilities, industrial plants, and other selected targets. From October 12-14, Edward and his fellow pilots struck the island of Formosa (today's Taiwan), especially the Japanese seaplane base at Tansui and their airfield at Shinckiku. During one of these attacks on October 13, Lt. Eisengrien was lost. His body nor his gunner's were ever recovered.
His wife Vivian received word from the War Department at her home at 800 East Cervantes Street that he was missing in action with little hope of recovery. His name appears today on a monument in Fort William McKinley, Manila, in the Philippines with his Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross noted.
Vivian would marry again to Paul Edward Landis (1920-2011) on June 22, 1946 in Florida. In 1958, Paul was listed as a scientist working for the Diamond Ordnance Fuse Laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland. Vivian would outlive Paul and pass away on June 11, 2018 followed by her burial in Rockville, Maryland.
Comments