Chief Warrant Officer Five Gordon “Ed” Bonham

CW5 Gordon “Ed” Bonham enlisted in the US Army in 1969 where he received training as a 63B, Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic.

In 1979, assigned as Shop Foreman with the 1st Battalion 61st Infantry, Staff Sergeant Bonham applied for and received a Direct Appointment to W01, 630A Automotive Technician. His first assignment as a Warrant Officer placed him with the 440th Signal Battalion in Darmstadt, Germany, providing tactical signal support to V Corps and USAREUR units. His dedication and integrity not only improved the operational readiness status of the unit but also added credibility to its validity. Chief Bonham single-handedly identified serious problems within the supporting units’ procedures for processing repair parts and was instrumental in correcting these areas, lowering the Battalion’s zero balance rate to the lowest achieved.

After this assignment, Chief Bonham was sent to Fort Carson, CO, and assigned to the 1st Battalion 10th Infantry (M). He immediately took action to ensure that the battalion pre-edit error rate was continually below the division standard of 3% reconciliation rate. He took a personal interest in the technical training of the assigned 63 series Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) personnel. Here again, he took the initiative to establish a QSS stock at the battalion level greatly reduced the downtime of all vehicle fleets. In 1985, Chief Bonham was assigned to 1st Battalion (M), 17th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, Korea as Battalion Maintenance Technician. His complete maintenance system approach, vehicles, power generation, TAMMS, and PLL were the key reasons his unit was able to perform its ten-week combat mission in the American Sector of the Korea Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Exercise Bold Brave, and the Battalion ARTEP. He helped ensure that a one-for-one upgrade of vehicles in his company units was accomplished accurately.

In 1998, Chief Bonham was assigned to Fort Jackson, SC, as the first-ever Chief Warrant Officer 5 to serve as Course Director, Wheel Vehicle Mechanic School. He was responsible for training over 5,000 Advanced Individual Training (AIT) soldiers annually as Light and Heavy Wheel Vehicle Mechanics, and ASI H8 Wheel Vehicle Recovery Course. He took the lead as the action officer for a joint effort with the US Army Combined Support Command to develop exportable unit-level vehicle maintenance training on CD-ROMs that were available for Army unit usage.

In his final assignment, he was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, CO as Division Senior Maintenance Advisor. Here he was responsible for the readiness management of four active Mountain post Brigades and three National Guard Enhanced Separate Brigades located in Oklahoma, Oregon, and Arkansas. By using his leadership and maintenance skills, he was responsible for orchestrating a flawless turn- in and issue of 180 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

Chief Bonham holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Upper Iowa University. His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (6), Army Commendation Medal (4), Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct (3), National Defense Service Medal (2 Starts), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal (1 Star) Armed Forces Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon (#3), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Ribbon (#5), Kuwait Liberation Medal-Government of Kuwait, Kuwait Liberation Medal-Saudi Arabia, Korea Defense Service Medal, and NATO Medal.

Chief Bonham retired on 31 August 2001