Edward Heffron

Did You Know?

• Heffron had a 2B exemption from military service due to his shipyard job but did not use it.
• He developed an intermittent medical condition causing his hands to curl and lock, possibly Dupuytren's contracture, but never mentioned it.
• A statue of Heffron's likeness was unveiled in South Philadelphia on 17 September 2015, the 71st anniversary of Operation Market Garden.

Early life

Edward James Heffron, the third of five kids, came into the world in 1923 in South Philadelphia. His father Joseph worked as a prison guard, and his mother was Anne. Raised Irish Catholic, the family went to Mass every Sunday, and Heffron attended Sacred Heart Catholic School. He started at South Philadelphia High School but quit during the Great Depression to bring in money. He then sandblasted cruisers at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, prepping them to become light aircraft carriers. Though his job gave him a 2B draft exemption and he had a painful hand condition that made his fingers curl and lock, he never used either excuse. Wanting to serve with his brothers and friends, he enlisted in his hometown on November 7, 1942.

Military service

As a replacement in E Company, Heffron fought in Operation Overlord in France, Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, and the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium, where he served as a machine gunner and received the Bronze Star. He helped liberate the Kaufering concentration camp in Landsberg, Germany, and participated in seizing Hitler's Eagle's Nest. At jump school, he made a pact with friends John T. "Johnny" Julian and J. D. Henderson to return personal belongings and contact families if any were killed.

On 1 January 1945, Heffron heard Sergeant Johnny Martin cry that Julian had been hit; he tried to reach him but was driven back by enemy fire. Julian's body was later recovered, but Heffron could not look at it. He waited 12 years after the war before calling Julian's mother. In early May 1945, while on guard duty near Berchtesgaden, Heffron encountered German General Theodor Tolsdorff, who wished to surrender only to an officer; Lt. Carwood Lipton accepted the surrender.

Later years

After the war, Heffron worked for Publicker Industries, a whiskey distillery in Philadelphia. When the company moved to Linfield, Pennsylvania in 1966, he stayed and spent 27 years on the Philadelphia waterfront checking cargo and clerking. In the Band of Brothers miniseries, Heffron was played by Robin Laing and appeared as himself in the final episode, with a brief cameo in the fourth episode. He co-wrote Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends with Guarnere and Robyn Post in 2007, and appeared in the documentary We Stand Alone Together. In 2013, he was named an honorary graduate of West Point High School in West Point, Virginia.