Navy Captain Edwin Kiem!

Edwin Kiem was born at the Swedish hospital in Brooklyn New York august 1917.  He weighed 9 pounds when he was born.  his parents, Jane Elizabeth and Christian Andrew were 28 and 41 years old.  he is named after his maternal grandfather.

Ed moved to Irvington NJ in 1920.  He attended school there from 1923 to 1925.  He moved to Millburn, NJ in 1925 and attended Wyoming school until 1929. He then attended and graduated from Millburn high school in 1935, which was located a mile from his house.  In high school, he played baseball as a catcher.

He received scholarships and entered Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  While at the WPI he studied Mechanical Engineering from September 1935 to June 1937.  In 1937 he left WPI to enter naval aviation cadet flight training program in Pensacola Florida served a total of 26 years with the navy as a naval aviator.  He flew a PBY-5 Catalina, VP-11, PB4Y-Liberator, and a VD-11  Retired in 1963 with the rank of Captain USN.  After retirement, He was employed by North American Aviation, in Columbus Ohio.

Among other things not only did Ed pick up a set of wings while he was at Pensacola he picked up a bride.  Edwin met Harriet Tompkins at a dance out at Scenic Terrace in Pensacola.  From then they never left each other marrying very soon after they met.  Harriet sadly passed in 1996  from old age.

Edwin Kiem lived a very long life living to the age of 91.  Ultimately he died from old age, but before he died he was living in an assisted living home due to him slipping and hitting his head.  He is buried at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola Florida.

Edwin Kiem to me was my great-grandfather on my dad's side.  Edwin died when I was 7 years of age, so my memory of him is very faint.  Me, and everyone in my family called him Gigi pa which to this day no one truly knows where the name came from, or what it means.

Edwin Loveday Kiem

This is his headstone located at Barrancas National cemetary in Florida.