Edward Fitzpatrick, Class of 1943

By B. J. Harding, President, SPUHS Alumni Association Biography #188 (Have you submitted yours?)The only child of John (Class of 1913) and Leona Squire Fitzpatrick, Eddie’s high school buddies were Dick Butcher, Bud Garner, Frank Staben, Paul Wolfe, Rix Wimberly and Gale Schwarting. In the early 1940s high school was full of World War II news, scrap metal drives, ROTC drills, and students leaving campus to pick fruit and light smudge pots and other farm work. Eddie’s special teachers at SPUHS were George Atmore and Bess Richardson.Immediately after graduation, if one was lucky enough to hold out that long, most of the fellows went immediately to the military. Eddie was no exception. He reported to Buckley Field in Denver, Colorado for his basic training with the U.S. Air Force. From Denver, Eddie was sent to Las Vegas, Nevada for gunnery school. He then went to Ardmore Air Base in Oklahoma to get his combat crew and more training before leaving for Foggia, Italy with the 347th Squadron of the 99th Bomber group of the 15th Air Force. Eddie was credited with 56 missions as a ball turret and waist gunner. While on leave in Rome, he toured the Vatican and had the privilege to meet with the Pope.Eddie returned to the U.S.A. and enrolled at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He attended classes both in San Luis and the San Dimas campus, with his major being citrus production. Eddie then spent 34 years as a quality control manager for the citrus processing plant of Ventura Coastal Corporation. While working for them he set up quality control labs in Kansas and New Jersey, and traveled to Mexico and Florida to inspect citrus products for Ventura Coastal.In 1950 Eddie was recalled by the U.S. Air Force and sent to Japan. Here he flew 32 missions as waist gunner for the 98th Bomber group over North Korea.