Edward John Bernat

101st Airborne Veteran – Band of Brothers

On June 2, 2016, we lost another member of "the Greatest Generation," and one of the last surviving members of "Easy Company."

Ed Bernat was a World War II veteran and a member of the elite E "Easy Company" of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. This unit was also known as "The Band of Brothers," made famous by the 2001 TV miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. With the 101st, he participated in the D-Day invasion, parachuting behind enemy lines. In September 1944, while under attack in Holland, he suffered a serious head wound and spent the remainder of the war recovering in hospitals in Europe and in Virginia. He was honorably discharged in March 1945.

He was awarded the Distinguished Unit Badge with an Oak Leaf Cluster, two Purple Hearts with an Oak Leaf Cluster, a Bronze Arrowhead European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, two Bronze Stars, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Jubilee Liberty Medal from France.

Ed was born on January 17, 1923, in Buffalo, N.Y., to Alexander and Mary Wrona Bernat. He had one brother (Red) and three sisters (Helen, Elsie and Annie). He was preceded in death by Red, Helen and Elsie. His family moved to Erie when he was 3 years old and he attended Academy High School prior to WWII where he excelled in wrestling.

Ed met his future wife Rose Stavana of Kane shortly after he was discharged from the military and was married in 1946. Ed and Rose (who he called Mama) were married for 63 years. Rose preceded him in death in 2009. They had four children, Kathleen (husband Gary), Steven (wife Linda), Anthony (wife Rebecca), and Edie (husband Jim), all who reside in the Erie area. He had two grandchildren who are deceased (Brian Reed and Bobby Bernat), ten grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Ed retired from R.M. Kerner Company and continued to enjoy his favorite hobbies of fishing with this good friend John Oshlick and deer hunting with his youngest son Anthony. He also enjoyed gardening and taking rides with his wife Rose.

Ed was a member of St. James Catholic Church in Erie, where he was very active along with his wife. Both Ed and Rose enjoyed retirement to the amusement of their kids, because upon retiring, they were never home and were hard to reach during the day.

Ed enjoyed being around people. After he retired, he began doing volunteer work at the local VA Hospital where he helped out in the mail room. When Ed began to have health issues, he moved to the fourth floor at the VA Hospital. He loved the staff along with his fellow patients. He made it a point to talk to anyone who would listen to him and considered the nursing staff as part of his family. While at the VA, he continued to enjoy gardening and taking care of the flowers, vegetables, and strawberries the staff grew during the summer months. He also enjoyed going out to eat with his daughter Kathy and her husband Gary. Ed was treated very specially by the entire VA staff and our family will never forget how wonderful they were to him.

Friends are invited to attend a Memorial Service on Saturday, June 11, 2016 at the second floor conference room of the Erie VAMC, 135 E. 38th St., Erie, PA 16504, at 3:30 p.m. with Chaplain David Fugate officiating.

Interment will take place at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, Bridgeville, Pa., with full military honors.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to the Erie VAMC, Recreation Fund #1004, 135 East 38th Street, Erie, PA 16504.

To send condolences, visit edderfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Edder Funeral Home, Inc., Girard.

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