Veteran, 95, on the way to meet friends killed in crash with fire department pickup truck

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) - The family of a 95-year-old veteran is remembering his life and honoring his legacy after he was killed in a car crash involving a fire department vehicle in South Carolina.

The family of 95-year-old Peter Pulkkinen expressed their state of shock days after his death in a crash with a Myrtle Beach Fire Department pickup truck. They are remembering the retired Air Force veteran as a careful man, WMBF reports.

Scott Pulkkinen and his wife, Avis, are Peter Pulkkinen’s nephew and niece.

“He was an excellent driver, and we had ridden with him. When we visited with him, he insisted on driving,” Avis Pulkkinen said. “He was always so cautious, so careful, looking both ways.”

The South Carolina Highway Patrol says the fire department pickup was heading north on Highway 17 with lights and sirens around 6 a.m. Saturday when it collided with a Ford sedan that Peter Pulkkinen was driving. Troopers say the 95-year-old was trying to turn onto the highway.

Peter Pulkkinen had a long-standing routine of meeting with his friends of over a decade for a cup of coffee and conversation at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant. Avis Pulkkinen says he was on the way to meet those friends when the crash happened.

“We got the call from that friend saying, ‘We think that we saw Peter’s car.’ So, of course, that put us into a panic mode, and we were trying to reach out to find more information. But it was so early in the morning the police desk was not open, so we couldn’t get any results there,” Avis Pulkkinen said.

The fire department said in a statement to WMBF the pickup was responding to a structure fire call when the crash happened. There were two employees in the truck who were not hurt.

“Our hearts go out to everyone involved,” said the fire department in the statement.

Peter Pulkkinen spent 20 years in the Air Force. He was one of 13 siblings, all of whom preceded him in death. He was married to his wife, Margaret, for 53 years before her passing in 2016. The couple had no children.

Neighbors said Tuesday that the 95-year-old was a man who kept to himself but was there if you needed him. They also said he was someone who had a routine he followed to the second.

“He was quiet, predictable. You knew it was Monday if he was cutting the front lawn. You knew it was Tuesday if he was cutting the backyard,” Catherine Burchette said.

Ellen Arnold said she will miss seeing him walking around their neighborhood as he would get his exercise in. She will also miss seeing him in the yard.

“Years ago, his wife used to be in the yard picking up the grass, and I think he put her in a nursing home at some point and then she passed,” Arnold said.

Scott Pulkkinen said he will always cherish the time spent with his uncle, as recently as a couple of months ago when Peter Pulkkinen turned 95 on June 14.

“We got to see him for really close to two months this summer and got to know him much better,” Scott Pulkkinen said. “Just a kind, compassionate person.”

There will be no funeral service, as his final wishes were for his remains to be reunited with his late wife’s in Maine.

The family invites donations to Tunnels to Towers Foundation and Paralyzed Veterans of America in his memory.

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