Have you ever struck up a conversation at a yard sale, only to find yourself talking to a man who once protected presidents, flew on secret missions and helped write history behind the scenes? 

That’s exactly what happened at an estate sale, where retired T/Sgt. Edward Loffredo casually shared his remarkable life story while his wife hunted for bargains.

Later, the 80-year-old veteran opened up about his 20 years in the Air Force, beginning with his rough upbringing in New York. 

“My father was a gambler and my mother was a schizophrenic,” said Loffredo. 

Abandoned by his abusive family as a teenager, Loffredo lived on the streets of New York City, sleeping under trees in a park. By the time he was 17, he had joined a gang and was stealing car parts. 

Instead of ending up in jail after the police caught him, he was taken to meet a man who would change his life.

“I had decked a cop coming in,” Loffredo recalled. “Three cops cuffed me, and around the corner from the police station was an officer who said, ‘Young man, if you touch me, I’ll blow your head off with this .45.’ And I believed him.”

That officer, a U.S. Air Force colonel, offered Loffredo a new path.

“It sounded like a deal to me,” Loffredo said. “Three square meals a day, clothes to wear, $95 a month, an M-1 carbine and all the bullets I could shoot.” 

He had to wait until he turned 18 to enlist, which meant returning to his father’s home. 

“They went to my father to get signatures. I don’t know what they said, only that he had to take care of me,” said Loffredo. “From then on, he treated me like a king.”

FROM STREETS TO SERVICE

Loffredo admitted that when he entered the Air Force in 1961, he was an angry young man. 

Loffredo, bottom row, third from the right, with his crew after training on the HC-130.

After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he was stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming as a fireman before being reassigned to the paint shop. His city-slicker attitude got him into trouble, including a fight over an insult to his Italian heritage and an incident where he spilled green paint on his sergeant. Later, he spent time as a Minuteman missile technician, which he loved.  

A highlight of Loffredo’s military career came early when he was assigned to the security detail during President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Wyoming as part of his Conservation Tour in September 1963.

“I got to meet Kennedy just a few weeks before he was assassinated,” he recalled. “He was my hero, as far as presidents go. Sure, he was Catholic, but that’s not why I liked him. He was a good man, and he used his time in office well.” 

Loffredo, center, receives an award for assisting with the painting of six B-52 aircraft.

Loffredo’s duties took him to Puerto Rico, where he was part of the crew painting the first B-52 bombers headed for Vietnam.

“I wish I could’ve gotten on one. I wanted to be a dead hero,” he said. “It’s the only thing I thought they’d remember me by.”

Loffredo’s personal life continued to move forward despite these dark thoughts. He married his girlfriend after she told him she was pregnant, and together, they had three children. Even after learning the first child wasn’t biologically his, he still treated her as his own.

In 1972, Loffredo’s crew conducted humanitarian flights, including a memorable mission to Mali aboard their aircraft “Turbo Sal,” which featured a pin-up girl painting on the side. The crew had to eat lambs’ eyes—a local delicacy—to please their host, the governor of Timbuktu.

Loffredo, third from right, and the Long Flight crew.

Loffredo received a personal achievement citation for his role in Long Flight, a record-breaking nonstop flight for turboprop aircraft that involved mid-air refueling from Scott Air Force Base in Illinois to Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taiwan and back. 

“We beat the Navy and the Russian bear,” he said, referring to Russia’s Tupolev Tu-95 plane.

DARING MISSIONS

Over his career, Loffredo served in Europe, Africa and Asia, often on 30-day missions involving medical rescues, security and humanitarian aid. He rose through the ranks, becoming a noncommissioned officer (NCO) and earning several medals, including the Air Force Commendation Medal, which he holds in the highest regard. 

He spent seven years overseas as part of special missions teams, performing daring stunts that rivaled those seen in action movies, including pararescue missions where they’d pluck people from the ground mid-air. As the crew chief of an HC-130 equipped with the Skyhook system—a device that uses a harness and self-inflating balloon to lift individuals from the ground into the aircraft—it was Loffredo’s job to ensure these daring operations were successful. 

While stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War, Loffredo participated in “feet wet” missions over the South China Sea, rescuing the wounded from helicopters or planes. Some rescues were ground-based; others involved air-to-air transfers from damaged aircraft. 

“That’s where I was hit with Agent Orange—that’s why I’m in pieces,” he said, referencing some of his chronic health issues.

Following a particularly difficult mission, Loffredo transitioned to an on-the-job (OTJ) training administrator role, where he automated processes that revitalized the base’s capabilities.

He retired from the Air Force as a technical sergeant in 1981.

“The Air Force was my father and mother,” Loffredo said. “They taught me how to behave, the rules and the law, and what I was there for. I’ve never forgotten that.”

He reflected on how much he had changed, saying, “You’re one man when you start and another man when you finish. I didn’t want to die anymore.” 

Loffredo holds his beloved Buster, a certified therapy dog in training.

 LIFE AFTER SERVICE

After leaving the Air Force, Loffredo went to work for the U.S. Postal Service and worked his way up the chain of command. He was part of the team that developed Priority Mail.

“I didn’t know anything—my people did and I trusted them,” Loffredo said.

He was preparing to retire from the Post Office when he met his wife, Chris, a true Colorado cowgirl.

“She’s meaner than I was,” he said. “I needed protection, and she was it.”

Chris said she was immediately drawn to his air of confidence.

“We’ve had a really good life together,” Loffredo said.

A self-proclaimed storyteller, Loffredo wrote two children’s books based on stories he told his niece: “The Adventures of the First Buffarillo” and “The Lost Aztiki Tribe and the Mysterious Cave of Gold,” both available on Amazon. His tales are packed with adventure and feature mythical characters like buffarillos and jackalopes. 

Naturally, when Grand Junction’s baseball team became the Jackalopes, Loffredo became a fan. He proudly displays a “genuine” jackalope mounted on the wall of his office.

“All I want for the rest of my life is to be at peace,” said Loffredo. 

Despite his remarkable service, Loffredo remains humble about his service in Vietnam, focusing on those who did not return. 

“The ones who died—they’re the heroes,” he said. 

Reflecting on his own life and stories, Loffredo added, “Everything’s a story. If they can’t give you a story that’s worth a damn, what do you want them for? I just gave you some highlights—but I assure you, it’s all true.”