Edmund Krekorian Obituary

Krekorian
Edmund A.
Krekorian
July 17, 1925
December 20, 2023

Edmund (Ed) Krekorian, MD, Colonel, Medical Corps, US Army Retired
Professor Emeritus, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Edmund (Ed) Krekorian was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 17, 1925. His parents were
Leo and Rachel Krekorian, immigrants from Armenia. In June 1943, Ed graduated from Jamaica
Plain High School. While in high school, he played on the baseball team and served on the
yearbook committee authoring the class essay. At 17, Ed enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He
served eighteen months in the South Pacific, participating in the Consolidation of the Northern
Solomons Islands, Defense of Piva Yoke (Bougainville) and the Bismarck Archipelago
Operation. Honorably discharged as private first class in November 1945 after almost three
years, Ed began as a freshman at Emory University. He dropped out after another three years to
accept a direct commission as second lieutenant, Air Defense Artillery, one of 14 second
lieutenants across the country so commissioned.
In 1949, Ed met Patricia James, sister of his best friend and fellow lieutenant, Branson James of
Royston, Georgia. It was love at first sight. Nine months later, on June 30, 1950, Ed and Patricia
were married. That was also the day President Truman committed ground troops to the
defense of South Korea. Six weeks after the wedding, Ed was in Korea defending a fighter strip
south of Pohang. In January 1951, Ed transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division to command 2nd
Platoon. The platoon succeeded to the extent it was eventually written up in the 3rd Division
newspaper. Ed was personally recognized for his leadership by Brigadier General Armistead
Meade, Assistant Division Commander.
By April, the 3rd Infantry Division was at the 38th Parallel. Late in April, Ed's platoon braved
enemy fire to rescue sixteen severely wounded British soldiers about to be killed or captured by
the Chinese. The wounded were evacuated to a US military hospital. The surgeons at the
hospital invited him to observe their treatment, and the experience touched Ed spiritually. From
then on, he was committed to becoming a doctor. Patricia was fully supportive.
Ed was next assigned as an intelligence officer in New York City to prevent espionage or
sabotage of critical military installations. In 1952, Ed returned to Emory to complete
requirements for a degree. During his second quarter at Emory, he worked as a lab instructor in
the Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy Lab. The position came with a monthly stipend, a financial
boon as he and Patricia welcomed their first son Jim. After graduating in March 1953 from
Emory with a BA in biology, he worked as a research assistant for Dr. Joe Ross, professor of
hematology at Boston University School of Medicine. That fall he started classes at the Medical
College of Georgia. Graduating with honors in 1957, he was admitted to Alpha Omega Alpha,
the honor medical student's society. Ed went on to internship and residency training in
Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.
After completing his residency, Ed was assigned to the US Military Academy. In addition to
his medical duties, he helped start the cadet rock climbing club and served as an instructor for
three years. He also had the opportunity to attend postgraduate courses in head and
neck surgery at Columbia, Mount Sinai, Illinois and UCLA. After promotion to major in 1963, Ed
was assigned to Walter Reed as assistant chief, ENT/Head and Neck Surgery Service. 1964
brought a flurry of professional development: Ed was appointed lieutenant colonel, chief of
service, director of the residency training program, Consultant to the Army Surgeon General,
and a member of the National Academy of Science. Ed's patients at Walter Reed would range
from wounded Vietnam soldiers to presidents.
Over the next six years, Ed became world renowned for his expertise in the management of
severe combat wounds and advanced malignancies of the head and neck. A pioneer of
skull-base surgery, he developed operations for two previously fatal conditions. He received
reprint requests for his published articles from as far away as the Soviet Union and China. In
1970, Ed became eligible to retire from the army. Johns Hopkins and Washington Universities
both recruited him to replace their retiring current chairmen alongside other prestigious offers.
Ed felt he had a higher calling. It was to take to Vietnam the skills and experience gained at
Walter Reed at such expense to the country and its young people. With Patricia's support, Ed
volunteered for the Army's paratrooper's school at Fort Benning and then Vietnam. Assigned
as division surgeon to the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division, he was responsible for everything
medical– from evacuation to management of drug abuse. In addition to his administrative duties,
Ed operated on over one hundred fifty severe head and neck wounds of US military, South
Vietnamese, Viet Cong, NVA, and civilians. In addition, he consulted on many other cases of
head and neck wounds from military hospitals across Vietnam, including the response to an
epidemic in a Montagnard village where nineteen infants had died.
Promoted to colonel, he was awarded two Bronze Stars and two Air Medals. Ed was then
assigned as commander of the 93rd Evacuation Hospital, a 400 bed hospital at Long Binh.
Upon the conclusion of his time in Vietnam, Ed was given credit for Command and General Staff
College. He twice declined consideration for promotion to brigadier general to remain in clinical
medicine. In 1978, Ed retired from the army to join the faculty of Colorado's School of Medicine
as a professor. He became director of head and neck surgery at Denver General Hospital and a
volunteer surgeon at the Denver Veterans Administration Hospital and Children's Hospital. He
served as an instructor in the freshman gross anatomy dissection of the head and neck, and
taught the junior medical school class physical diagnosis of the head and neck. Twice a year he
spent a week as a volunteer doctor at the Navajo reservation in Crown Point, New Mexico. At
Christmas time, he served as a Kiwanis bell ringer for the Salvation Army.
In 1990, the senior medical school class awarded Ed the prestigious "Excellence in Teaching"
award. Ed beat out ninety professors nominated for the award. In 2014, the Medical College of
Georgia's Alumni Association awarded Ed the "Distinguished Alumni for Professional
Achievement" award at a banquet in his honor.
A licensed fixed wing pilot with over 400 hours, Ed had a lifelong love for aviation. He took any
opportunity to fly, even receiving 21 hours of rotary instruction. He made a concerted effort to
share this appreciation with his children and grandchildren. He was proud to see several of his
children develop their own love for flying. Ed had a devout appreciation for Bach's organ music,
practicing preludes and fugues on a two manual Johans organ given him by Patricia on his
retirement. Ed discovered a passion for mountain climbing as a member of the Appalachian
Mountain Club, which he continued to pursue as a member of the Colorado Mountain Club. He
taught this respect for the great outdoors to his children and grandchildren. He and Patricia kept
hiking well into their late eighties, often bringing Patricia's paint supplies along.
Ed is the author of four novels, two based on his wartime experiences. As a lieutenant, he
rewrote the Army Field Manual on self-propelled automatic weapons in the ground-support role.
He has published articles on that topic, as well as the evacuation of casualties under fire;
management of severe combat injuries; and advanced malignancies of the head and neck. Ed
pioneered skull base surgery in the management of olfactory esthesio-neuroblastoma and
juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma with intracranial invasion. His series reporting repair of
war-injured facial nerves was the largest in the world at the time. Ed continued writing until the
week of his passing, and could never pass up the opportunity to share a good story– ideally
over a relaxed dinner of lamb chops or chicken wings.
Ed died peacefully on the afternoon of December 20th, after a very short illness. His beloved
Patricia died two years earlier, in January of 2021. They will soon be together again at Arlington
National Cemetery. Service date and time are to be determined. They are survived by their four
children: James, Paul, Frank, and Nancy; four grandchildren: Rachel, Jacob, AJ, and Angelica;
and three great grandchildren: Skylar-Joy, Ryker-Joel, and Madelyn.