Ed Neal was born January 28, 1940 in Montreal.  His father was a veteran of the Second World War, and he missed all of Ed’s early life as he was overseas for the first five years.  Ed grew up in the care of his mother and grandparents, Scottish immigrants where his grandfather was a veteran of the Great War.  Ed attended school in Montreal’s NDG neighbourhood when he was young, when the family moved across the river to Chateauguay Ed was in the employ of the Bell Telephone Company, though he soon decided to join the RCAF.  He started out in the reserve forces and was based out of St-Hubert, Quebec, where he was a weapons technician for 401 Squadron.  That put Ed on the front lines of the Cold War in a tense time.  He met his future wife there, and that prompted him to transfer to the regular forces, where he became a radio technician.  Training took place in Clinton, Ontario, and after that Ed was stationed in Comox, B.C.  and Armstrong, Ontario, where he served on a radar station in the Pine Tree Line.  Rivers and Shil followed, and while in Manitoba Ed completed a degree in Canadian history, qualifying him for officer training.  His first base as an officer was Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and while he was there he was deployed to Egypt as a logistics officer connected to the United Nations peacekeeping force in the region.  After his stint there was complete, he returned to Greenwood, and then ended his career in Ottawa at National Defence Headquarters, retiring in 1983.  Ed served a total of 27 years in the Canadian Forces, achieving the rank of captain by the end of his career.  After that he went to work at the Legion as a service officer, a post he held until 2002.  Ed Neal was interviewed by Scott Masters at the Parkwoods Veterans Centre in London, Ontario in October 2024.