Gustave Heinecke, known as G. Edward, Ed, Eddie, and Hink, was born in October 1922, in Belleville, Illinois, the second of two children. His father died of pneumonia the March before he was born, and his family went to live with his grandfather, the owner of a stove foundry, in Belleville. Heinecke went to school there, and spent his teenage summers at a horse camp in Colorado.

Gustave Heinecke enrolled at Washington and Lee University in 1940. His roommate in 1941 was the son of a congressman from Ohio. He and his roommate were together on 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941] when they heard the announcement of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the radio. That night, at the congressman's invitation, Heinecke and his friends traveled to the Capital in Washington D.C., and Heinecke attended the next day's meeting of the United States Senate. Heinecke was present when President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Rosevelt] addressed the legislature and got their approval for the Declaration of War. They went back to school, but the students were watching the build-up of the armed services. Heinecke learned of a program for naval officers, and went to Richmond to sign up for V-12 training. He was commissioned as an ensign in February 1942, and was assigned to LCS(L)(3)-1, a new class of ship equipped with radar. While waiting in Boston for the ship to be commissioned, Heinecke met his wife, Pricilla, at a dance.

Gustave Heinecke's ship [Annotator's Note: USS LCS(L)(3)–1] progressed from Boston, through the Panama Canal, to California, and Hawaii, and had its first invasion experience at Okinawa. The crew learned that their assignment would be radar picket duty, along the coast of Japan between Okinawa and Tokyo. The ship cruised back and forth, detecting Kamikaze activity and reporting to the Air Force. At one point, the ship took on three Japanese prisoners and brought them to Okinawa. Shortly afterward, peace was declared, and Heinecke had orders to wait at anchor. Heinecke consulted his maps and found their ship was right off the coast of Hiroshima. A small party from the ship went ashore and at the top of a small hill about a quarter of a mile inland, they witnessed complete devastation for 25 miles either way. Only three reinforced concrete buildings had withstood the atomic bomb blast, and Heinecke took an abacus from one of them as a souvenir. He also took photographs of the area. Before the ship left Japan, the commanding officer of the LCS(L)(3)-1 was discharged, and Heinecke took over his position.

Gustave Heinecke was made a Lieutenant, and as commanding officer was in charge of taking the USS LCS(L)(3)-1 back through Hawaii to Seattle. The ship was decommissioned in Portland, and Heinecke felt sorry because it had been his home for two years. While he was in the Pacific, he got a letter from Priscilla almost every week. When he was sent home in 1946, he looked her up, proposed marriage and she accepted. He remained active in the Naval Reserves in naval intelligence. He was working in advertising for Thorp Finance Corporation in Wisconsin, and while traveling around the state he met members of the Green Bay Packers team. Heinecke convinced the team's executives to allow his company to sponsor broadcasts of the Packer's games. In 1984, at the age of 62, Heinecke retired.

Gustave Heinecke retired from the Navy Reserves after 20 years at the rank of Lieutenant. He thought back to President Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: President Franklin D. Roosevelt] speech to the Senate and knew it was an occasion that he would never forget. When he recalls his time in the Navy, he believes it was a wonderful experience that continued through his time in the reserves. While in reserves he met some very influential people who were helpful to him in his postwar life.