World War II POW Edward Luzzie, 90
By Michael Ko
Tribune Staff Writer
Edward L. Luzzie, 90, a Chicago attorney and a retired Army major who survived six months as a prisoner of war after his capture during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, died July 31 in a nursing home in Iowa City, Iowa, following a lengthy illness.
Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Mr. Luzzie was the son of an Italian couple who had visited America for their honeymoon and decided to stay. Mr. Luzzie was raised and educated in New Haven. He graduated with a bachelor's and a law degree from Yale University, where he was a member of the ROTC.
Following school, Mr. Luzzie joined Chicago Title and Trust Co. as an attorney. In 1940, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Luzzie was drafted into the Army, joining the infantry.
In December 1944, just a few days after Hitler mounted a final campaign to win the war, Nazi forces launched an all-out offensive near the Ardennes River. Mr. Luzzie, a member of the 590th Field Artillery Battalion, was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle of World War II.
The diary that he kept during the war reveals that he was part of a battalion that was cut off and surrounded by Nazi troops near the base of a large hill near the river. More than half of his battalion was killed, he said. The survivors were shuttled by railroad box cars to several different prisoner camps.
Mr. Luzzie explained in the diary that he and fellow POWs subsidized their meager rations while being transported to POW camps by begging local farmers for food.
On April 16, 1945, Mr. Luzzie wrote that during another transfer, this time on a forced march to a prisoner camp in Nuremburg, shrapnel from a bomb blew off his right leg. Mr. Luzzie remained at the camp until Allied Forces rescued him and other prisoners in May.
He remained in the Army until 1947, spending most of the time in rehabilitation where he learned how to walk again with an artificial leg. Mr. Luzzie was awarded a Purple Heart for his service.
Mr. Luzzie's daughter Christine said despite the devastating injury, her father's tone was "very upbeat" throughout the diary.
"His group was decimated," she said. "He was just glad to come out of it."
And when he returned to Chicago, Mr. Luzzie looked at life as a second chance, his daughter said.
"It was over, he survived, he was lucky," she said.
He married Mary Hultgen in December 1950, returned to his job in the Real Property Law Division with Chicago Title and settled in Western Springs. Mr. Luzzie unofficially retired in 1974 as the company's assistant chief title officer, continuing in his role as chair of the company's Property Law Committee.
Mr. Luzzie's wife died in 1982 and to keep busy, Christine Luzzie said her father worked for the Cook County recorder of deeds until 1993. Two years later, because of declining health, Mr. Luzzie moved to Iowa City, where his daughter and her family live.
Christine Luzzie said her father never thought of his war injury as a handicap and refused to use a handicapped parking sticker until he was 82 years old, Christine Luzzie said. She recalls how he hiked in the Austrian mountains during her high school field trip and how in later years, he invented push and pulley systems to lift heavy boxes.
Mr. Luzzie also is survived by his sister, Elsie Soong, and two grandsons. Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St., in Countryside. Mass will be said 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. John of the Cross Church, 5005 S. Wolf Rd., Western Springs.
Published Chicago Tribune August 9, 1999
By Michael Ko
Tribune Staff Writer
Edward L. Luzzie, 90, a Chicago attorney and a retired Army major who survived six months as a prisoner of war after his capture during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, died July 31 in a nursing home in Iowa City, Iowa, following a lengthy illness.
Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Mr. Luzzie was the son of an Italian couple who had visited America for their honeymoon and decided to stay. Mr. Luzzie was raised and educated in New Haven. He graduated with a bachelor's and a law degree from Yale University, where he was a member of the ROTC.
Following school, Mr. Luzzie joined Chicago Title and Trust Co. as an attorney. In 1940, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Luzzie was drafted into the Army, joining the infantry.
In December 1944, just a few days after Hitler mounted a final campaign to win the war, Nazi forces launched an all-out offensive near the Ardennes River. Mr. Luzzie, a member of the 590th Field Artillery Battalion, was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle of World War II.
The diary that he kept during the war reveals that he was part of a battalion that was cut off and surrounded by Nazi troops near the base of a large hill near the river. More than half of his battalion was killed, he said. The survivors were shuttled by railroad box cars to several different prisoner camps.
Mr. Luzzie explained in the diary that he and fellow POWs subsidized their meager rations while being transported to POW camps by begging local farmers for food.
On April 16, 1945, Mr. Luzzie wrote that during another transfer, this time on a forced march to a prisoner camp in Nuremburg, shrapnel from a bomb blew off his right leg. Mr. Luzzie remained at the camp until Allied Forces rescued him and other prisoners in May.
He remained in the Army until 1947, spending most of the time in rehabilitation where he learned how to walk again with an artificial leg. Mr. Luzzie was awarded a Purple Heart for his service.
Mr. Luzzie's daughter Christine said despite the devastating injury, her father's tone was "very upbeat" throughout the diary.
"His group was decimated," she said. "He was just glad to come out of it."
And when he returned to Chicago, Mr. Luzzie looked at life as a second chance, his daughter said.
"It was over, he survived, he was lucky," she said.
He married Mary Hultgen in December 1950, returned to his job in the Real Property Law Division with Chicago Title and settled in Western Springs. Mr. Luzzie unofficially retired in 1974 as the company's assistant chief title officer, continuing in his role as chair of the company's Property Law Committee.
Mr. Luzzie's wife died in 1982 and to keep busy, Christine Luzzie said her father worked for the Cook County recorder of deeds until 1993. Two years later, because of declining health, Mr. Luzzie moved to Iowa City, where his daughter and her family live.
Christine Luzzie said her father never thought of his war injury as a handicap and refused to use a handicapped parking sticker until he was 82 years old, Christine Luzzie said. She recalls how he hiked in the Austrian mountains during her high school field trip and how in later years, he invented push and pulley systems to lift heavy boxes.
Mr. Luzzie also is survived by his sister, Elsie Soong, and two grandsons. Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St., in Countryside. Mass will be said 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. John of the Cross Church, 5005 S. Wolf Rd., Western Springs.
Published Chicago Tribune August 9, 1999
World War II POW Edward Luzzie, 90
By Michael Ko
Tribune Staff Writer
Edward L. Luzzie, 90, a Chicago attorney and a retired Army major who survived six months as a prisoner of war after his capture during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, died July 31 in a nursing home in Iowa City, Iowa, following a lengthy illness.
Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Mr. Luzzie was the son of an Italian couple who had visited America for their honeymoon and decided to stay. Mr. Luzzie was raised and educated in New Haven. He graduated with a bachelor's and a law degree from Yale University, where he was a member of the ROTC.
Following school, Mr. Luzzie joined Chicago Title and Trust Co. as an attorney. In 1940, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Luzzie was drafted into the Army, joining the infantry.
In December 1944, just a few days after Hitler mounted a final campaign to win the war, Nazi forces launched an all-out offensive near the Ardennes River. Mr. Luzzie, a member of the 590th Field Artillery Battalion, was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle of World War II.
The diary that he kept during the war reveals that he was part of a battalion that was cut off and surrounded by Nazi troops near the base of a large hill near the river. More than half of his battalion was killed, he said. The survivors were shuttled by railroad box cars to several different prisoner camps.
Mr. Luzzie explained in the diary that he and fellow POWs subsidized their meager rations while being transported to POW camps by begging local farmers for food.
On April 16, 1945, Mr. Luzzie wrote that during another transfer, this time on a forced march to a prisoner camp in Nuremburg, shrapnel from a bomb blew off his right leg. Mr. Luzzie remained at the camp until Allied Forces rescued him and other prisoners in May.
He remained in the Army until 1947, spending most of the time in rehabilitation where he learned how to walk again with an artificial leg. Mr. Luzzie was awarded a Purple Heart for his service.
Mr. Luzzie's daughter Christine said despite the devastating injury, her father's tone was "very upbeat" throughout the diary.
"His group was decimated," she said. "He was just glad to come out of it."
And when he returned to Chicago, Mr. Luzzie looked at life as a second chance, his daughter said.
"It was over, he survived, he was lucky," she said.
He married Mary Hultgen in December 1950, returned to his job in the Real Property Law Division with Chicago Title and settled in Western Springs. Mr. Luzzie unofficially retired in 1974 as the company's assistant chief title officer, continuing in his role as chair of the company's Property Law Committee.
Mr. Luzzie's wife died in 1982 and to keep busy, Christine Luzzie said her father worked for the Cook County recorder of deeds until 1993. Two years later, because of declining health, Mr. Luzzie moved to Iowa City, where his daughter and her family live.
Christine Luzzie said her father never thought of his war injury as a handicap and refused to use a handicapped parking sticker until he was 82 years old, Christine Luzzie said. She recalls how he hiked in the Austrian mountains during her high school field trip and how in later years, he invented push and pulley systems to lift heavy boxes.
Mr. Luzzie also is survived by his sister, Elsie Soong, and two grandsons. Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St., in Countryside. Mass will be said 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. John of the Cross Church, 5005 S. Wolf Rd., Western Springs.
Published Chicago Tribune August 9, 1999
By Michael Ko
Tribune Staff Writer
Edward L. Luzzie, 90, a Chicago attorney and a retired Army major who survived six months as a prisoner of war after his capture during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, died July 31 in a nursing home in Iowa City, Iowa, following a lengthy illness.
Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Mr. Luzzie was the son of an Italian couple who had visited America for their honeymoon and decided to stay. Mr. Luzzie was raised and educated in New Haven. He graduated with a bachelor's and a law degree from Yale University, where he was a member of the ROTC.
Following school, Mr. Luzzie joined Chicago Title and Trust Co. as an attorney. In 1940, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Luzzie was drafted into the Army, joining the infantry.
In December 1944, just a few days after Hitler mounted a final campaign to win the war, Nazi forces launched an all-out offensive near the Ardennes River. Mr. Luzzie, a member of the 590th Field Artillery Battalion, was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest land battle of World War II.
The diary that he kept during the war reveals that he was part of a battalion that was cut off and surrounded by Nazi troops near the base of a large hill near the river. More than half of his battalion was killed, he said. The survivors were shuttled by railroad box cars to several different prisoner camps.
Mr. Luzzie explained in the diary that he and fellow POWs subsidized their meager rations while being transported to POW camps by begging local farmers for food.
On April 16, 1945, Mr. Luzzie wrote that during another transfer, this time on a forced march to a prisoner camp in Nuremburg, shrapnel from a bomb blew off his right leg. Mr. Luzzie remained at the camp until Allied Forces rescued him and other prisoners in May.
He remained in the Army until 1947, spending most of the time in rehabilitation where he learned how to walk again with an artificial leg. Mr. Luzzie was awarded a Purple Heart for his service.
Mr. Luzzie's daughter Christine said despite the devastating injury, her father's tone was "very upbeat" throughout the diary.
"His group was decimated," she said. "He was just glad to come out of it."
And when he returned to Chicago, Mr. Luzzie looked at life as a second chance, his daughter said.
"It was over, he survived, he was lucky," she said.
He married Mary Hultgen in December 1950, returned to his job in the Real Property Law Division with Chicago Title and settled in Western Springs. Mr. Luzzie unofficially retired in 1974 as the company's assistant chief title officer, continuing in his role as chair of the company's Property Law Committee.
Mr. Luzzie's wife died in 1982 and to keep busy, Christine Luzzie said her father worked for the Cook County recorder of deeds until 1993. Two years later, because of declining health, Mr. Luzzie moved to Iowa City, where his daughter and her family live.
Christine Luzzie said her father never thought of his war injury as a handicap and refused to use a handicapped parking sticker until he was 82 years old, Christine Luzzie said. She recalls how he hiked in the Austrian mountains during her high school field trip and how in later years, he invented push and pulley systems to lift heavy boxes.
Mr. Luzzie also is survived by his sister, Elsie Soong, and two grandsons. Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday in Hallowell & James Funeral Home, 1025 W. 55th St., in Countryside. Mass will be said 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in St. John of the Cross Church, 5005 S. Wolf Rd., Western Springs.
Published Chicago Tribune August 9, 1999
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