Honoring Our Veterans: Edward Koros

Ed. Note: Memorial Day is a time when Americans commemorate the U.S. soldiers who gave their lives in defense of freedom.

A tradition dating back to the Civil War, Memorial Day honors the sacrifices these brave men and women made for a better nation. Perhaps there's no greater way to honor their memory than by reflecting on their service and recognizing those veterans who live among us.

With a sincere sense of gratitude, Patch would like to say "Thank You," to all the brave men and women who answered the call to serve with a special feature titled 'Honoring Our Veterans,' which will run daily at 5 p.m. during the week leading into Memorial Day 2011.

Today, we salute Ed Koros.

Name: Ed Koros

Branch: U.S. Army

Conflict: Korean War

Post: Koros served stateside during the Korean War as an integrated fire control instructor at Fort Bliss in Texas, where he helped train NATO forces on special anti-aircraft heavy weapons and technology.

Reflections: "What's interesting to me is that supposedly we were fighting the North Koreans and Chinese over in Asia to stop the spread of communism, but back here in the States we were training NATO Allies who were from communist countries.

It didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me at the time in-as-much as these were soldiers from communist nations wearing their red stars etc., but overseas in Korea troops were off fighting the communists, so it just felt like we were working across purposes."