Jerry L. Wade

Jerry L. Wade, age 85, of Belcamp, Maryland passed away on September 23, 2023 at Lorien in Bel Air, Maryland. Born in Ligonier, Indiana, he was the son of the late Erwin and Margaret (Hewitt) Wade and husband to Faith (Bosse) Wade for 30 years. Jerry entered the Army on November 17, 1958 and took basic training at Leonard Wood Mo. He completed basic training in February 1959 and was transferred to APG, MD for advanced individual training and completed the Machinist Course and graduated as honor student June 1959. Jerry transferred to Ft. Dix, NJ. And shipped out to Hanau, Germany aboard the USS Patch, where he performed as a machinist in the 30^th Transportation Company doing Army aircraft maintenance during the building of the Berlin wall. He returned to the States and was assigned to the 62^nd Construction Engineers where he performed maintenance on construction engineer equipment. Jerry returned to Hanau, Germany in 1964 to the 8^th Maintenance Battalion and was assigned to the 507^th Heavy Equipment and performed maintenance on ordnance equipment from 1964- 1966. He moved to Ft. Lewis, Washington and was assigned to the 528^th Maintenance Company and performed maintenance on Army aircraft. In November 1967 he went to Long Binh, Vietnam and was assigned to the 632^nd Maintenance Company and performed maintenance on ordnance equipment and took part in the Tet Offensive. In November 1968 he returned to the States and was assigned to the 1^st Armor Division at Ft. Hood, TX performing maintenance and ordnance equipment. In 1971 he returned to Hanau Germany to the 8th Maintenance Battalion, 88th Heavy Equipment Maintenance and was promoted to E-7 where he served as Service Section Chief. In 1974 he returned to APG, MD and was assigned as an instructor for machinist course and obtained the position of senior instructor and served as chief instructor for one year. In 1979 he moved to Korea and was assigned to the 2^nd Infantry Division 702 Maintenance Battalion and was 1^st Sergeant for C Company. In 1979 Jerry returned to APG and was assigned to the Training Design Department where he designed lesson plans for the machinist course until he retired from the Army in August 1981. He worked in private industry as a machinist until he was hired as a machinist for the school secretary, Maintenance Division on May 5, 1984. Jerry was a member of Abingdon VFW Post #5337 where he liked to spend time with his friends, the Abingdon Elks and the Aberdeen American Legion Post #128.  He attended St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. He enjoyed watching NASCAR and spending time at VFW with his friends.  He liked attending the Army/Navy games and Notre Dame and Orioles games.    

In addition to his wife, Jerry is survived by his stepson, Kevin (Donna) Kaiss; step grandchildren, Ryan, Sean & Kellie Kaiss and a step daughter-in-law, Lori Kaiss.

In addition to his parents, Jerry was preceded in death by, sister, Judy Marker and stepson, Kenny Kaiss.

Contributions may be made to MCVET, 301 N. High St., Baltimore, MD 21202 or Abingdon VFW, 3705 Pulaski Highway, Abingdon, MD 21009