More detail on this person: VHPA Life member
Edward J. "Eddie / Poppy" Sweeney, Jr., 62, of
Huntersville, NC, the husband of Ellen T. Finn
Sweeney for 41 year, the Union County Public
Schools Maintenance Director and a retired Army
Lt. Colonel, died unexpectedly Tuesday, December
2, 2008, at Charlotte's Presbyterian Hospital.
Born and raised in Boston, MA, Ed received a
bachelor's degree in business administration from
the University of Tampa in 1967 and was
commissioned in the U.S. Army's Corps of
Engineers. He completed flight school with classes
68-16 and 68-510 and served in Vietnam from July
1969 to July 1970 with C/3/17th Cav as Charlie
Horse 16. He flew both OH-6As and OH-58As scout
helicopters. Besides the Silver Star he was
awarded 45 Air Medals. After Vietnam he was
stationed at many bases throughout the eastern US
plus a tour to Germany before retiring in 1987
from Ft. McPherson, GA. Ed moved his family to
Huntersville, NC in 1989 where he served as the
Assistant Director of Maintenance for the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. Then, in
1994, Ed became the Union County Public Schools
Maintenance Director where he earned this moniker
- a Massachusetts Yankee with a North Carolina
Smile! Known for his crazy, fun costumes and hats,
Ed loved to entertain kids and lighten-up meetings
with his frivolous spirit. Ed spent his later
years playing golf with his wife, cheering for his
beloved Boston sports teams, and fishing with
friends in Cape Cod and Florida. He was a
parishioner of St. Mark's Catholic Church in
Huntersville. In addition to his wife, Ellen, Ed
leaves a son and daughter-in-law, Sean and Julie
Sweeney of Highlands Ranch, CO; a daughter,
Shannon Sweeney of Huntersville, and several
grandchildren. He was buried at Bourne National
Cemetery on Cape Cod, Otis AFB.
VHPA Life Member Frank Glenn penned the
following tribute to Ed. "If one is lucky you have
a friend that transcends friendship. Conditions in
Vietnam placed me under his leadership in 1970. I
am a different person as a result of the
friendship we developed living and flying together
in Vietnam. Not only was he my friend, he was my
platoon leader; for six months I was one of his
Scout Pilots. We flew some of the most hazardous
flights in Vietnam. Ed taught me so much about
both leadership and friendship. Interestingly, one
is that you could effective lead and still be a
friend. Sadly, many in the military and the
business world think they are mutually exclusive.
Sweeney proved them wrong! In a world where it
was easy to succumb to anxiety, fear and even
depression, Sweeney taught by example the
Serenity Prayer. He taught you to focus on what
you had control of and to ignore what you couldn't
control. He taught you to have fun and even
happiness in the face of constant danger and poor
living conditions. "Work hard, play hard" was his
life and life's lesson. He was an unselfish a
person you could know. The day before he was to
meet Ellen for R&R in Hawaii, he not only
scheduled himself to fly, but to take the mission
that we all knew would bring heavy enemy fire.
Yep, it was one of those bad days and Sweeney
was shot down. His engine was shot out and he
crashed landed in their backyard. Sweeney got on
his survival radio, and confirmed he was safely in
a bomb crater next to his downed aircraft, but he
could hear the shouts of the VC as they were
searching the bamboo and nipa palm for them. Ed
popped a smoke grenade and called for his Cobra
to lay down fire and not to worry about how close
it got to the smoke. The jungle swallowed the
helicopter and the only visual the Cobra had was
the smoke. Ed had to refresh it with more every
several minutes as the old smoke grenade burned
out and dissipated. For over an hour Ed continued
calling in Cobra fire around his smoke from a
"chain" of Cobras called into maintain a curtain
of fire around the bomb crater where he and his
two door gunners were hugging the bottom. All this
time the Cobras surrounded them with mini gun
fire, HE and flechette rocket fire. Finally, Ed
called for a "cease fire" and called Scouts in to
check his perimeter. They confirmed that the VC
were either dead or gone; Ed and his crew were
finally extracted. He flew out the next morning
for R&R, same old Ed (a few bruises and scratches)
- Yahooing and carrying on about meeting Ellen,
rubbing our noses with the fact that he would
either be on the beach or in bed for the next 6
days! By the way, when he got back a week later,
we asked him how Ellen responded to his ass
getting shot down the day before. As you would
expect, his answered, "Why would I go telling her
about that?" From that day forward the scout
pilots forced him to start rotating the known
dangerous missions and that he could no longer
take more than his share."
SSG Arthur C. Bonevich, AKA Kamakazi Scout,
provided the following: "Capt. Sweeney was my
Scout Section Leader, I was his Scout Section
Chief. We were a team. He took care of the
Officers, I took care of the Scout's. All in all,
we, all of us took care of one another. We were a
team. Thanks to Ed we had the best Air Cav Scout
Section in Vietnam. I will miss him. He and I will
meet again and we will continue on our mission.
Capt. Sweeney was my kind of leader, and friend."
Contributed by VHPA members Dr. Matthew
Ginalick and Frank Glenn plus VHCMA member
Artie Bonevich.
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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