Edward Jonas, a retired diesel mechanic and World War II Navy veteran, died Jan. 4 of respiratory failure at his Auburn, Calif., home. He was 87.
Mr. Jonas was born and raised in Richwood, W.Va., where he attended high school.
He enlisted in the Navy in January 1941 and during his wartime career served on three ships — and survived the sinking of two of them.
Mr. Jonas was assigned to the powder magazine of the cruiser USS Quincy, which sank in August 1942 during the Battle of Savo Island in the Pacific.
He was a tailor aboard the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off the Makin Islands, with a great loss of life, in November 1943.
Mr. Jonas, who was decorated with two Purple Hearts for injuries he had received, concluded his wartime service aboard the destroyer USS Mansfield in the Pacific.
He was discharged in 1946.
After leaving the Navy, Mr. Jonas married Eileen Bullock in 1946.
He worked until 1950 as an automobile mechanic for Bob Flay Chevrolet in Baltimore.
From 1950 until retiring in 1988, he was a diesel mechanic for Baltimore Mack Trucks.
The former Baltimore and Towson resident, who had moved to Auburn two years ago, was an avid fisherman and hunter.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Miller-Dippel Funeral Home, 6415 Belair Road.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Jonas is survived by a son, Ronald E. Jonas of Auburn; a daughter, Barbara Luckett of Richmond, Va.; a sister, Stephanie Jane Lesiak of Parma, Ohio; and a granddaughter.