A FAMILY LEGACY OF SERVICE

A FAMILY LEGACY OF SERVICE

By John T. Toler

Pvt. Ed DeNeale in 1965, while in Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC.

Some families are distinguished by their tradition of military service, and that’s certainly the case of U.S. Army veteran Ed DeNeale III, of Warrenton, who served three tours in Vietnam and multiple assignments in Europe and stateside over a 20-year career.

Ed, 76, can trace his family in America to Colonial days, when ancestor Thomas DeNeale arrived in Virginia in 1701. Later, descendant Col. George DeNeale served under Gen. George Washington in the American Revolution. A close friend of the general, George DeNeale led the troops at Washington’s funeral.

Also serving in the Revolution were George’s brothers, Capt. John DeNeale, an infantry officer, and William DeNeale, an enlisted soldier. Continuing the line, Col. James DeNeale fought in the War of 1812.

During the Civil War, Ed’s ancestors fought on both sides. Southerners Sgt. Maj. William H. DeNeale served with the 3rd North Carolina Artillery, and Col. George Edward DeNeale led the Virginia Choctaw Warriors.

Serving on the Union side were three maternal ancestors. Privates William P. Grove and Andrew W. Grove, both with units of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and Sgt. George P. Butler, who married into the DeNeale family, who served in a Michigan cavalry company.

During the Boxer Rebellion in China (18991901), Col. Hugh DeNeale led the “Black Plumes,” a U.S. cavalry unit that was part of the multinational force sent to protect foreigners and missionaries under attack by the Boxer rebels. A few years later, Ed DeNeale’s maternal grandfather, Col. James Grove, served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War I.

During World War II Ed’s uncles, Sgt. Wilfred “Bozzy” Grove, served with Gen. George Patton’s forces in North Africa and Europe, and Sgt. Hugh Grove served in the Marines under Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific. Their sister, Theresa Grove, was a pilot in the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She was killed when the P-51 Mustang she was ferrying to England was shot down by German fighters over the Atlantic.

Ed’s great uncle, Capt. George C. DeNeale, served in the Marines and his father, Edward DeNeale Jr., served as a civilian contractor making aircraft propellers during the war.

During the Korean War (1950-1953), another uncle, Army Sgt. Philip DeNeale, served as with a tank crew. Ed’s stepbrother, Michael O’Brien, was a signalman in the U.S. Navy on the U.S.S. Hale, stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the Cold War.

Growing up in suburban Maryland with his mother and stepfather, Ed enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965 at age 17, right after high school graduation. Underage, his mother had to sign a document permitting him to enlist.

Ed was sent to Ft. Jackson in South Carolina for basic training, and to Ft. Knox in Kentucky for advanced training as a crewman on the M60AI tank. He displayed a talent for land navigation and map reading, and received specialized training as a scout.

Arriving in Vietnam, Ed was on a five-man team conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols (LRRPs) on an armored personnel carrier in the “Elephant’s Ear” region that bordered Cambodia. Missions were intense and dangerous, and Ed remembers how close the crew became while “in country.” Ed was wounded in combat eight times, earning multiple Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, among other medals.

While U.S. forces weren’t officially in Cambodia, Ed estimates that out of the three years he served in Vietnam, for about 10 months his crew fought the enemy in Cambodia. Later in his tour, Ed commanded an APC, and then led the scout platoon. The oldest at age 21, his men called him “Pop,” a nickname that followed him throughout his military career.

Ed’s worst experience in combat came when his crew entered a Cambodian village that had been wiped out the night before by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. “A six-year-old boy, stabbed in the chest with a bayonet, died in my arms,” Ed recalled. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live. Never.”

Completing his combat service in Vietnam, Ed held senior enlisted positions stateside at Ft. Polk in Louisiana and Ft. Carson in Colorado as well as overseas with the 3rd Armor Division in West Germany. Before retiring in 1985 at the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7), his last assignment was with the 2nd U.S. Armor Division in Bavaria, on the Czech border.

Back home in Maryland, Ed was a firefighter in Calvert County for 20 years, concurrently working the night shift with the Calvert County Sheriff’s Department. Ed volunteered at historic St. Mary’s City from 1986-91, portraying a colonist in period costume. He also assisted in archeological digs there. He married and is the father of a daughter and two sons, now living in Maryland, Culpeper County and Washington State.

“In 2001, my children ‘kidnapped’ me and brought me to Warrenton,” Ed recalled. “They figured that Virginia was the place for me, since our family had come here in the 1700s.”

Ed’s violent experiences in Cambodia and Vietnam left him with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suffering with nightmares, anxiety and isolation. Hero’s Bridge, a local veterans support group, stepped in to help, visiting Ed at his home, urging him to join other veterans’ organizations and including him in Hero’s Bridge activities.

It was determined that what Ed needed was a service dog, and the best option was Paws4Vets, an organization based in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“Through one of our volunteers who already had a service dog, Hero’s Bridge assisted Ed with the application process, and friends helped him with traveling back and forth to North Carolina,” recalled Hero’s Bridge volunteer Janelle Huffman. “In November 2021, Ed brought his service dog home, which he named ‘Schulz.’”

A three-year-old Black Lab, Schulz – named for Charles Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip – has been Ed’s companion and helper ever since.

“When you get a service dog, you don’t pick the dog, the dog picks you,” Ed explained. Schulz was six months old when training began, and over a period of ten months, Ed traveled to Wilmington to train with him, a week at a time. Man and dog graduated from the program, receiving diplomas and ID cards.

“Schulz can accompany me traveling to 109 countries and all 50 states,” Ed said proudly.

Schulz’s specialized training includes summoning help by pulling alarm cords hanging around the home. Ed noted that he is also a good judge of character.

“If someone comes up who Schulz sees as a threat, he will get in and stand between us.”

Ed did not encourage his children to serve in the military, but the tradition continued with his nephew, Sgt. Michael Arnold, stationed in Germany after the Vietnam War, and greatnephew, Sgt. Michael Wyvill, who fought in Operation Desert Storm. Like Ed, both were tankers, and have since retired.