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39th Bomb Group (VH)
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1st Lt Harry B. Eddy
Bombardier

He was born in Portland, the son of Warren D. and Marion Longley Eddy. He attended Portland schools, graduating from Deering High School in 1941. He graduated Bowdoin College, a member of the class of 1945.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps 11 Dec 1942 according to his WWII Enlistment Record on the National Archives web site. After training as a bombardier, he was commissioned an officer and served as an instructor. He flew 26 bombing missions and with his fellow B-29 crew members.

Mr. Eddy returned to Maine and college after Victory in the Pacific. He worked for a time for Connecticut General Life Insurance and Weyerhaeuser, beginning a long career in the laundry and dry cleaning industry in the mid-1950s with Universal Laundry in Portland. He lived in Portland all his life and for over 60 years he summered at the family camp on Little Sebago Lake in Gray.

He greatly enjoyed his many years association with the Portland Players, acting in many plays and musicals. In years past actors would be glad to hear he was in the audience because of his remarkable and always-infectious laugh. It was at the Players that he met Helen Jacobs, marrying her in 1955.

In the early 60s, he went into his own laundry and dry cleaning business, at one time owning four Laundromats in Portland, Falmouth, Yarmouth and Freeport, before purchasing New System Laundry in Portland in 1972. Here he spent the remaining thirty years of his working life, retiring at the age of 78.

Harry and his wife Helen have son and three daughter; 11 grandchildren. Helen passed away in 2003.

He was a life-long Republican and for many years actively worked in local politics serving on the Portland Republican City Committee and many State Conventions.

Harry Eddy was an exemplar of what journalist Tom Brokaw called The Greatest Generation. He had a noteworthy capacity for working long hours; his life was one of devotion to his family and country, and his greatest wish was to be known as no more than a decent and honest man. He loved music, especially classic Jazz. In his younger days he sang in the choir of the State Street Church and years later at St. Luke's Cathedral. Even in his last days of infirmity he greatly enjoyed singing any of the old songs.


Harry B. Eddy took his final flight on 06 May 2008

Crew 57 Main Page
62nd Squadron Crew Index
Source: Excerpts of the obituary for Harry B. Eddy published 9 May 2008 Portland Herald Press/Maine Sunday Telegram;
39th BGA; WWII Enlistment Record - National Archives