Col. Frank E. Herrelko, Sr.

Colonel Frank E. Herrelko, Sr. (U.S. Air Force, Retired) recently passed away peacefully at Spring House Estates in Lower Gwynedd, PA. He was 105 years old. Born in West Leisenring, PA, he was a son of the late Alexander and Mary (Yash) Herrelko. Surviving are his loving family including three sons: Frank E. Herrelko, Jr. and his wife, Ann, of Richmond, VA, David A. Herrelko and his wife, Janet, of Beavercreek, OH and Jeffrey R. Herrelko of Oracle, AZ; a daughter, Kathleen H. Easton and her husband, Tom, of South Burlington, VT; 8 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, and many other family members. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 68 years, Edith (Brownlie) Herrelko, by his brother, Edward Herrelko; and by three sisters, Marguerite Herrelko, Betty Brugger and Martha Brown. Edith and Frank were long-time residents of Bowie, Maryland, making their home there for forty-four years before choosing Spring House Estates in Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania as their retirement home. After working as a coal miner for two years, Col. Herrelko enlisted in the Army in 1932, serving in the Coast Artillery, Medical Corps, and Signal Corps in Hawaii, the Panama Canal Zone, New York and New Jersey, with duties as artilleryman, bugler, medical technician, telephone pole climber, and message center chief before being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1940. He attended the Command and General Staff College as a Lieutenant and later attended the Signal Corps School, Fighter Command School, Air University, and the Armed Forces Staff College. During World War II, he served in a variety of Aircraft Warning organizations on both coasts. He designed and installed the First Air Defense & Control Center in New York City and trained over 300 volunteers. In Florida, he designed and built the first air-transportable Air Defense & Control Center, which was deployed to the Pacific Theater. For this work he was awarded the Legion of Merit. He was promoted to Captain in 1942, Major in 1943, and Lt. Colonel in 1944, at which time he commanded the 556th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion in Iceland, with three companies and eight radar stations. After the war, he commanded a succession of Aircraft Control and Warning Groups on the west coast, transferred from the Army to the then-new Air Force in 1947, and served in Alaska as the Cold War began, installing six radar stations in the Aleutian Island Chain reaching toward the Soviet Union. After a subsequent tour as Chief of Staff, Eastern Air Defense Force and promotion to Colonel at age 37, he began the first of three tours of duty at the National Security Agency, where he was the first Deputy Director for Communications Security. Between these assignments, he served in Italy from 1955 to 1958 as NATO’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Air Defense for Italy, Greece and Turkey and as Chief of U.S. and NATO AIRSOUTH Communications Security, and in Japan from 1962-1964 as Commander of the 5,000-man Far East Communications Region. After his retirement from active duty in 1967, Col. Herrelko continued work in the Federal Civil Service, as a national security consultant, and as a volunteer on numerous public and charitable boards. A lifelong athlete, he competed for over thirty years in golf, bowling, marksmanship, and track and field. He won the Air Force Security Service Pistol Championship and over 300 medals in the Senior Olympics at state and national levels and in the Huntsman World Senior Games. He was inducted into the Maryland Senior Olympics Hall of Fame in 2004, into the Hall of Fame of the Huntsman World Senior Games in 2006, and into the National Security Agency’s Hall of Honor in 2017. Funeral services are being privately arranged for the immediate family. Col. Herrelko will be buried next to his wife, Edith, at Hope Community Cemetery, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Arrangements are by The Bacchi Funeral Home & Crematory, Ltd., Bridgeport, PA. www.bacchifh.com