ED KOZNOCHA • VIETNAM
Ed Kaznocha, 77
Gloucester, MA
Born: 7/5/1948
Born/Raised: Waltham, MA
Rank: Sergeant
Unit: US Air Force
1967-69: Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina
1970-71: Korat RTAFB, Thailand
1971: Homestead AFB, Florida
Dates of Service: 1967-71
Ed Kaznocha grew up around hard work. His father, Ed, owned the Bedford Diner and his mother, Mary, was a seamstress and union steward. On the heels of graduating from Waltham High in 1967, he enlisted in the US Air Force, following the example of seven uncles who served in the military in WW-II. Though he and a friend enlisted early in the ‘buddy system’ a serious injury prevented his friend from going to basic training with Ed.
Ed achieved sergeant while stationed at Myrtle Beach AFB before being assigned to the 38th Combat Support Group, Korat RTAFB Thailand, to fuel and service aircraft flying sorties over Vietnam, until January of 1971. His final orders were to service Air Force One and other aircrafts with the 31st Combat Support Group at Homestead AFB, FL, where he fulfilled his 4-year commitment stateside.
He began college at the University of South Carolina before being sent to Thailand, and resumed college after being discharged, at Curry College in Milton MA, where he earned his BA in business and economics, and met his future wife, Amy — they married on campus in 1975. As a labor market economist for the Commonwealth of MA, Ed researched the state’s labor market and wrote reports on many topics, including military spending in Massachusetts and the effect of tax breaks for the film industry.
The couple moved to Gloucester in 1978, when Amy was an editor at Para Research. Two of their sons are GHS graduates and a third son lives in Alaska. Ed and Amy have two grandchildren.