Winlock Honors a Vietnam POW: Stone Placed in Memory of Edward Leonard, Who Returned to Lewis County a Hero in 1973

Posted

Ask just about anyone in Winlock and they’ll tell you Edward Leonard lived an interesting life. 

“I’ve known him since he was a little kid,” Dean Hendrickson said. “He was quite a fellow.”

Hendrickson and about 30 other people attended a Memorial Day ceremony Monday at the Winlock Veterans Clubhouse to dedicate a memorial stone and walkway to Leonard, a former Winlock resident who spent five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. 

After returning to Winlock in 1973, he became a lawyer and was later the mayor of Ilwaco for four years.

“He was a really neat guy. I only met him a couple of times,”  said Wendy Carolan, American Legion Post 101 commander. “The more I read about him, the more fun stories I’ve found.” 

Leonard died on Veterans Day, 2014, at the age of 76.

He flew more than 250 missions in the Vietnam War, many of them to rescue fellow soldiers trapped behind enemy lines, Carolan said. 

On Memorial Day 1968, Leonard ejected from his damaged A-1H Skyraider aircraft over Laos. He hid in a tree for three days, but was captured and spent the next five years as a prisoner of war. 

He also spent time in the camp referred to later as the “Hanoi Hilton” with John McCain. Leonard was tortured and spent three and a half years of his five years in solitary confinement. He received medals including the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Silver Star.

Aaron Bratina, 17, of Boy Scout Troop 324, designed the memorial stone and installed the walkway as his Eagle Scout project.

“I just kind of jumped at the opportunity,” he said. 



American Legion Post 101 in Winlock sponsors Bratina’s troop. Cattermole Funeral Home in Winlock donated the stone, he said.

The crushed-stone walkway leads from the Veteran’s Clubhouse to the club’s flagpole, which was also an Eagle Scout project in 2009, Carolan said.

Carolan noted that Leonard was a member of the post until his death last year. The Veterans Club sits on land homesteaded by Leonard’s grandfather.

Former Winlock resident Randy Snell recalled the day in Spring 1973 the town learned Leonard was alive and would soon be home.

“I remember the excitement around this town very well,” he said. “Ed was coming home.”

Some residents heard Leonard remark that he particularly missed Christmas in Winlock while he was away. 

The whole town put up their Christmas trees and lights to welcome Leonard home. 

“It truly looked like mid-December in Winlock,” Snell said. “It’s a story I’ve told many times over the years in many places.”

Carolan said people were often less than welcoming to Vietnam veterans when they came home. 

“This part of the world is an exception to that,” she said.