The Norway native was honored with two celebrations last weekend for hitting the century mark with guests coming from California, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and lower Michigan. Family members gathered for a special dinner at Oak Crest Golf Course and a community reception took place Sunday at St. Mary Catholic Church’s hall.

Jasonowicz was born Jan. 29, 1925, one of six children — three boys and three girls — to John and Anna (Bal) Jasonowicz, and grew up on Norway hill.

Both his parents came to the U.S. from Poland. “My mom was 16 at the time and traveled with her father by train to France and got on a ship for three weeks,” he said. “She landed in New Jersey and ended up marrying my father and moved to Michigan to work in the mines.”

He still recalls the day Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, at the age of 16. “We had a boys club on Norway Hill, called the ‘Owls Club,’ we were sitting listening to a football game on the radio and they broke into the game,” said Jasonowicz.

World War II veteran Edward Jasonowicz says he was “the luckiest man in the world,” the day the USS Indianapolis had left without him.

He added that of the group of 10 or 12 young men, he didn’t think anyone knew where Pearl Harbor was, but they knew it was serious. Jasonowicz said the next day the students were called to an assembly to listen to President Franklin Roosevelt as he declared war on Japan.

The high school junior knew he was going to be drafted, so he and several other classmates later went to enlist into the U.S. Navy.

“My 18th birthday was in January (1943), so they said they would permit me to graduate from high school,” said Jasonowicz. “I graduated on June 4, 1943, and the next day, June 5, I was on a train going to the service.”

After completing naval basic training in Farragut, Idaho, he went on to primary fire control school in Treasure Island and transferred to secondary fire control school in San Diego, Calif. He completed training in April 1944 and was assigned to the USS Indianapolis as a fire controlman 3rd class.

He explained that fire control deals with running a mechanical computer to put guns on target. “It has nothing to do with actual fighting fire,” he said.

Edward Jasonowicz of Norway hit the century-old milestone today. He was honored with two birthday celebrations over the weekend. Jasonowicz is shown with his children from left, Mark Jasonowicz, Marcia Peterson, Mary Melchiori, Angela Finley at his dinner on Saturday.

Jasonowicz said that even with all the training, you can’t be adequately prepared. The learning really began from superiors and shipmates.

He, along with two other fire controlman, Paul Murphy and Paul Mitchell, went aboard with their seabags to await their physicals and receive bunk assignments.

“The ship doctor detected a murmur in my heart,” he said, noting the cause was from rheumatic fever when he was 10 and had previously been cleared.

Jasonowicz was sent to a base hospital for an EKG, but had been told he needed to return the next day for testing.

After he was medically cleared, he returned to the USS Indianapolis.

“When I got there my sea bag was on the dock and the ship was gone,” he said. “Luckiest man in the world — you know what happened to that ship.”

Only 316 of the 1,195 crewmen aboard the Indianapolis survived a Japanese attack in July 1945.

Jasonowicz was reassigned to the destroyer, USS Lang, stationed as the main battery director, which receives data on the enemy. He served overseas for 40 months.

“Our job was to escort larger ships seeking out enemy submarines, and then drop ash cans blowing them out of the water,” he said, adding most of the time was spent escorting aircraft carriers. He notes the Japanese would attack at sunrise and sunset, because it was hard to see.

The last three months the USS Lang was ordered to patrol between Iwo Jima and Japan, as the U.S. was preparing for the invasion, he noted.

“But they (Japan) knew that and they were using kamikazes — which is a suicide plane with a 1,000-bomb strapped underneath it — and pilots were assigned to crash into the biggest ships,” he said.

That mission lasted 89 days and they needed to return to the States because the engines had burned out due to the captain opening up to top speed to avoid getting hit.

“Out of the 90 cruisers, only 13 managed to escape without damage or getting sunk,” he said “We were one of the lucky ones.”

The USS Lang returned to the U.S. on the Fourth of July 1945. The next day Jasonowicz went to the top side to look across the dock and see the USS Indianapolis.

It had been hit by a kamikaze in the Pacific Ocean and needed repairs.

“After not seeing them for 18 months, I talked to my buddies, Paul Murphy and Paul Mitchell, and asked if they knew where they were going,” he said. “But, nobody knew at the time, because they were heading to San Francisco to pick up the atomic bomb to deliver to the Tinian.”

The USS Lange was repaired by the end of July and the bomb was dropped on Aug. 5.

“We no longer had an assignment to return and headed to Panama Canal to Pier 13 in Brooklyn, N.Y., that’s where we anchored — it was a big reprieve for us,” Jasonowicz said.

The USS Indianapolis was sent to the Philippines on training duty without an escort. On July 30, 1945, the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, and sank.

Jasonowicz was able to talk to Paul Murphy and other surviving crew members at the 50th reunion of the USS Indianapolis. He noted that during that time newspapers didn’t report about it because the war had ended.

Murphy told the horrific story of the attack and of what took place during the four long days they had been floating in the oil-saturated, shark-infested water waiting to be rescued. Jasonowicz said that Mitchell had died at sea.

“I said to Murphy, ‘I would have made it.'” Murphy told him, ‘Hell, yes, you would have made it Jazzy, sharks don’t like Pollocks,'” he said with a laugh, adding that the reunion was a wonderful experience.

Jasonowicz was discharged in March 1946, after serving three years in the U.S. Navy.

He returned to attend Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Ed married the former Charlotte Tomasini of Norway in 1949, they spent 64 years together. The couple had four children, Mary (Tony) Melchiori; Mark (Marilyn) Jasonowicz; Marcia (Bob) Peterson and Angela (Darrell) Finley; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Charlotte passed away in 2014.

After receiving his degree, he was hired in 1950 as a teacher at the Vulcan School.

“We were happy about that because our parents lived in Norway,” he said.

After teaching two years, Jasonowicz took over as principal of Vulcan School. After the consolidation of Norway and Vulcan schools took place, he served as assistant principal of Norway High School, retiring in 1986.

He and his wife spent their summer months taking golf trips with family and friends.

After retiring, Jasonowicz remained very active in the community. He was awarded the “Key to the City of Norway.”

In 2020, he was honored at the Michigan State men’s basketball game, as part of the NCAA “Honoring Veterans” program.

Jasonowicz served on numerous boards, including the Dickinson County Board of Commissioners, Dickinson County Hospital Board and served as chairman of the Jake Menghini Historical Museum Board for 18 years.

Jasonowicz designed and constructed the large Asselin milk bottle, a prominent feature in the museum. He also assisted with getting Jake’s cabin moved to the museum grounds.

He is a lifelong member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Norway, member of the Hall-DeWinter American Legion Post 145 of Norway, and Norvulet Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4581 of Norway and past member of the Moose Lodge from 1950 to 2010 when it closed.

One of the highlights of his life was a three-week trip to Poland in the 1990s with Ed Bolek.

“I got to see where both my parents were born,” he said, adding his mother never went back to visit.

Every day, they traveled around the country, making several stops at schools. “We saw some very interesting things including attending a Polish wedding — that was something,” said Jasonowicz, adding it was a benefit to be able to speak a little Polish.

He said his favorite hobby was golf, and he also served on the Oak Crest board in Norway.

Asked about the biggest change he has seen over the years, he responded, “Technology.”

As for his longevity, he believes there’s no one thing that a person can say is responsible. “It’s a combination of several things — exercise and get plenty of rest,” he said.

“Being a science teacher, especially understanding biology and the function of the human body pretty well, I always told the students the human body has to be taken care of. You can avoid a lot of disasters,” he said.

He feels fortunate that it’s only been the last year that he had to deal with poor eyesight.

Jasonowicz still enjoys going for walks in the summer.

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Terri Castelaz can be reached at 906-774-2772 ext. 241, or tcastelaz@ironmountaindailynews.com.