Sergeant Ed Mulligan was born in 1923 to an Irish family in Philadelphia, PA. He was brought up there until World War II when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp in 1942, hoping to be selected for pilot training. That hope was dashed when he was found to have a heart murmur. His testing had shown a strong aptitude for electronics, however, so he was sent to Temple University for advanced math studies. He then spent time at the nearby Philco Electronics plant for hands-on equipment familiarization before being called to active duty.
When he was inducted at the Philadelphia Armory he was immediately selected as an Acting Corporal to lead his group to the army air base . After his special training and basic training he was assigned to the 13th “Jungle” Air Force in the South Pacific, where he served two years as an electronic specialist on
forward combat echelon to eight different islands He was the advance party to set up radar and radio communications on captured Japanese airstrips for the P-40 and P-38 fighter planes to come later. Without his efforts the fighter squadrons would lack communications and be ineffective. The islands included New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, Leyte, New Hebrides, New Guinea, Morati, Luzon and Mindanao. Over that time he earned a Presidential Distinguished Citation, the Asiatic Theatre Campaign Medal with six bronze battle stars, the Philippine Liberation Medal , the American Theatre, Good Conduct and WWII Victory Medals. Sergeant Ed was discharged at Indiantown Gap, PA.
At WWII’s end, despite his deep experience in electronics, he passed up opportunities in that field and returned to the Penn Fruit Company, a Philadelphia supermarket chain of his pre-war days to join their ambitious expansion program and growing national repute. For over forty years he held various executive positions, including Vice President of Sales and Advertising, retiring in 1986 to spend more time with his family and to enjoy his continuing interest in the Air Force and aviation in general. He Joined the Air Force Association and the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association. Ed and his brother, Joe, visited many of the nation’s best air museums including The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum soon after it opened in 2003.