WO(MACH) Edward Winter

Edward Winter was born July 6, 1908 in Castle Rock, a town of about 1,000 people in southwest Washington. His mother, Julianna Ziertz Winter, was a homemaker, and his father, Adolph Winter, a farmer and later a steam engine mechanic. The parents were Russian immigrants.

Edward graduated from high school and enlisted in the Navy in January 1929. By then the family was living in nearby Winlock. Some time after 1935 he became part of the Naval Reserve. The spring 1940 Census said he was a machinist for the Big Creek hydroelectric project in Fresno County, California.

It isn’t clear when Mr. Winter returned to active duty, but he was a machinist and warrant officer on the U.S.S. Arizona, assigned to the Boiler Room and was the Assistant to the Engineering Officer when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

At least three of his brothers also served in the military — Julius and Martin in the Army during World War I, and Henry in the Coast Guard between World War I and World War II.

Sources: The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington; the Chehalis (Washington) Bee Nugget; the Longview (Washington) Daily News; The Daily Chronicle of Centralia, Washington; Census; 1940 military registration card; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file; grave markers. Navy photograph.  This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.