Anthony M. (Bud) Pinkosh

Anthony M. (Bud) Pinkosh passed away on May 26, 2024. Bud was born August 30, 1935 in Passaic, New Jersey to Anthony G. Pinkosh and Stella (Wnuk) Pinkosh 

He graduated from Pope Pius High XII School in Passaic, NJ in 1952 and went on to Study at US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY and then at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

In 1955 Bud joined the Army by volunteering through Selective Service. (He went to the SS office and asked to be drafted). He was 19. He went on to attend Officer's Candidate School, Fort Benning, GA (now Fort Moore) and served at Fort Jackson, near Columbia, South Carolina, Fort Lewis, WA, and in Alaska.

While serving at Fort Ord, California he met Nancy Curtis in 1958--they were married June 20, 1958. And bought their first house in Pacific Grove a few months later.

 His first-born son Paul was born in February 1959.

 Bud went on to serve in Korea for a year 1960-1961. It was there that Bud first became interested in intelligence.

 Following his time Korea he attended Fort Benning advanced infantry officer’s course. Later he was stationed at Fort Gordon Georgia. 

 His second child, and only daughter, Stacia was born. Feb 1962.

 Not long after he attended the U.S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird in Baltimore Maryland.

 In 1963 he and his family returned to Fort Ord, CA where he attended the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey to learn German.

 In 1963 he was moved to Camp King, an intelligence base in Oberursel, Germany just outside Frankfurt am Main.

 His second son, Mark, was born in 1964.

 The family left Germany in 1966. His wife Nancy and the three children moved to Brentwood, CA to stay with family while Bud finished his college education at the University of Omaha (Now the University of Nebraska at Omaha). Bud received his BA in Political Science.

 In February 1967 Bud and his family moved to the Presidio of Monterey and Bud once again attended the Defense Language Institute, this time to lean Thai.

 In 1968-1969 Bud was overseas in Laos, involved in intelligence work.

 In the summer of 1969, he and his family moved to Frankfurt am Main again. Bud was first executive officer and then commanding officer of an intelligence unit. It had many names, all of them situational. Mostly "US Army Logistics Detachment" for mail and general purposes.

 In April or May of 1971 Bud is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, or as Bud called it "Telephone Colonel." His Family moved to Bad Vilbel housing a suburb of Frankfurt.

 Despite wanting to extend his assignment in Frankfurt, friction with one of his superior’s results in his moving on. The choice for his terminal assignment was either to go to the Intelligence School, now located at Fort Huachuca in Tucson, AZ, or a position in J23, a joint service intelligence group concerned with the Vietnam War at CINCPAC (Commander in Chief Pacific) the largest US military command. In the end he was assigned to the latter.

 He retired in 1975, a Lt. Col who spoke two foreign languages: German and Thai.

 He and Nancy bought the Ole Mexican restaurant in Kailua Hawaii in 1973 and ran it for nine years.

 Bud returned to The University of Hawaii, Manoa to pursue his graduate studies. Sometime around 1982 he received his MA in Political Science and went on to work as a special assistant to the Governor of Hawaii. As Bud put it, he was the Governor’s “Javelin Catcher”. He was actively involved in several City Council, Mayoral and Governor races and ran for a state Senate seat himself. 

 In the early 2000’s he and Nancy left Hawaii and moved to Walnut Creek, California.

 Bud returned to Thailand regularly and his last two decades were spent traveling to and from Southeast Asia and living part of each year in Thailand. 

 Just two years before his death he moved to Green Cove Springs, Florida.

 An active volunteer until his last few years, Bud volunteered for a number of years in a Homeless program--handing out food and helpful items--at Saints Peter and Paul Church. In later years he did the same in the San Francisco Bay Area, volunteering with several Church Based charity programs that focused on homelessness and food distribution. 

 He was also very active in Veteran's groups: the American Legion and his favorite, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Waimanalo Chapter. He was also proud to be a member of La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux (The Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses) more commonly known as “The Forty & Eight" an honorary society of veterans based on the 40-man, 8-horse railway carriages that carried troops in WW1.

 He is survived by his wife Nancy, his three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.