Longtime Fanwood residents Joe Nagy and Ed Miller were honored during a memorial service held on Monday, May 29. They had been selected to serve as co-grand marshals of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Memorial Day Parade which was canceled due to rain. Also honored was Alan Ebersole, who had accepted the honor to be a co-grand marshal this year but died in late April at age 94. The annual parade commemorates the sacrifices of fallen service men and women.
Joe Nagy
Joe Nagy spent two years in military training before the age of 20 to aid in America’s efforts to win World War II.
The 94-year-old Nagy originally worked in nearby Perth Amboy in the clay industry before being drafted into the Army in 1943 and training in Fort Dix. From there, he spent 90 days in Texas working in the Tank Destroyer Battalion and later served in a unit in South Carolina. His South Carolina unit was dismantled in 1944, and then went to train in Mississippi to become an infantry replacement.
He was part of the occupying force in Japan. In September 1945 — just one month after the atomic bomb was dropped — Nagy’s unit conducted operations to bring peace to Japan.
“Japan was badly devastated. Tokyo was almost nothing,” continued Nagy. “(In Hiroshima) One bomb and 120,000 people disappeared. You really recognized the futility of war in that moment.”
Nagy remained in the reserves for 23 years when he returned home and eventually retired as a major.
Ed Miller
Ed Miller, originally a native of Kearny, New Jersey, had just finished high school when he was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1943. Part of (above l-r) The late Alan Ebersole, Joe Nagy and Ed Miller were selected in April to serve as the co-grand marshals of the 2017 Scotch Plains-Fanwood Memorial Day Parade. the sixth aircraft repair unit in San Antonio, following basic training and 17 weeks of machinist school, Miller worked alongside civilians in the biggest repair station of the army to ready equipment for the war.
“Right out of school, the Army needed machinists. In high school, I had worked for a fellow who made model airplane engines, so I luckily had a little experience,” explained Miller.
Deployed to the Philippines in 1944, Miller was part of the 5th fighter squadron in support of the Chinese. Miller was assigned to the floating Air Depot of the Pacific to combat Japanese aggression in the South China Sea.
“We were there to support the invasion of Japan. That was our one and only focus,” Miller said.
Upon his return home following victory, Miller moved to Fanwood and worked manufacturing steel in nearby Garwood. He successfully earned his degree in math and science from Jersey City State College.
(above l-r) The late Alan Ebersole, Joe Nagy and Ed Miller were selected in April to serve as the co-grand marshals of the 2017 Scotch Plains-Fanwood Memorial Day Parade.
