Earl Winn (December 10, 1920 – April 13, 2005)
 Earl Winn (R) |
 Earl Winn |
 Earl Winn, Robert Malkowski, and Donald Robb |
Earl Winn’s obituary appeared in the April 21, 2005 edition of the Santa Maria (CA) Times:
EARL WINN (1920-2005)
Earl Winn, 84, was born in Boise, Idaho December 10, 1920 to Grant Winn and Elizabeth Neibaur Winn. He died April 13, in Guadalupe, CA.
He was raised and attended schools in Boise and married Gael Hoover in 1942.
He served in the Navy during WWII on an LCI in the European theater and was in every invasion except southern France.
After the war he worked as a seedsman and owned and operated a farm supply and alfalfa seed processing plant in Adrian, Oregon, where his 5 five children were born. Later he managed plants in Winner, S.D. and Lovelock, NV. On semi-retirement he and his wife traveled the states from Colorado west and western Canada contracting alfalfa seed for Dairyland Seed Co. of Minnesota. He was an accomplished classical violinist and played tennis from his high school years till he was 82.
He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Leland and Paul. He is survived by his wife of 64 years and children: Bruce and children Jenny and Brady, Tammy and husband Angus McDonald and son Corey, Lisa and husband John Rettie and children Kathy, Matt, and Nick; Duncan and wife Lynette and children William, Lucynda and Kiziah, Tenley and daughter Elizabeth.
We have lost our beloved patriarch and miss him sorely.
No services are planned for Santa Maria. A memorial will be held in Boise, Idaho. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Christian Children’s Ranch, 2421 Duck Alley Rd., Eagle, ID. 83616
Thank you for the wonderful site. I am Earl Winn’s son-in-law. It was so wonderful to come across this stie. I am only sorry that earl didn’t get to see it.
Thanks so much
-angus
My dad never talked about the war for many years except the times when he was in various bars. He started opening up about his war time experiences a few years before he died. He said he was never as afraid during a firefight as he was during a typhoon that hit his group when he was at anchor in the bay of naples. They got their LCI under way, but they had a destroyer that had broken loose from it’s anchor bearing down on them amidships. They were told to abandon ship on three different occasions, but no one wanted to dive off into the bay with waves over the top of the ship.
He and Peganoff (who he referred to as the White Russian) had the inenviable job of taking turns on alternate trips to shore, of jumping off the ship first and swimming in to shore carrying a line to secure a rope to shore, so the troops would have a rope to hang on to when they were getting off of the ship and going in to shore. Often the water was over the troops heads, and they couldn’t swim with full backpacks and combat loads.
My dad, Earl Winn, served on the same ship.
@Angus Mcdonald Thank you for visiting my blog and posting your comment, Angus. I, too, am sorry that your father-in-law wasn’t able to view my website. I would have loved to talk to him and hear of his life and service.
@Duncan Winn Duncan, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful stories from your father’s time on the LCI. It is much appreciated and I look forward to learning more about him!
@Tami K Winn Thank you for visiting my blog, Tami!