William George Edwards
| NAME: Willliam George Edwards | NICKNAME: — | SERVICE NUMBER: 632 50 45 | |||||
| HOME OF RECORD: Mondamin, IA | NEXT OF KIN: Parents, Elbert & Hazel Edwards | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: 4/12/1912 | SERVICE DATES: 2/11/1942 – 10/25/1945 | DATE OF DEATH: 1/26/1996 | |||||
| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| Roi-Namur | HQ/1/24 | Corpsman | PFC | ||||
| Saipan | HQ/1/24 | Corpsman | PFC | ||||
| Tinian | HQ/1/24 | Corpsman | PFC | ||||
| Iwo Jima | Rear Echelon | Rear Echelon | PhM2c | ||||
| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: — | LAST KNOWN RANK: Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class | ||||||
William Edwards was born in Eldora, Iowa, on 19 April 1912. He was the oldest of six children raised by Elbert and Hazel Edwards, and spent his childhood growing up with siblings Charlene, James, Helen, Dorothy, and John in the small town of Mondamin. The town was a terminus of a branch line of the Chicago and North Western Line, and Elbert managed the train station during the 1930s and 1940s. While James and John took an interests in trains – and eventually went to work for the railroad, too – William followed a different path. His passion was for medicine, but there were few opportunities available in his quiet Midwestern town. In the late 1930s, William left Mondamin for California; he found lodgings in Pasadena, and enrolled in college – possibly the USC School of Pharmacy. He was in his second year of study when he registered for Selective Service in 1940.
Edwards enlisted in the Navy on 11 February 1942; with his education, he was a natural choice for hospital school. After a year of training, including Medical Field Service School at Camp Elliott, he was assigned to the 24th Marines at Camp Pendleton as a Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class. As a petty officer “Doc,” he may have served with one of the combat platoons of First Battalion, 24th Marines, or assisted the battalion surgeons at the aid station.
On 1 July 1943, Edwards was promoted to Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class – the rate he would hold throughout the war. In the span of eight months in 1944, he saw combat at Roi-Namur, Saipan, and Tinian. He was recommended for the Bronze Star Medal after the Mariana Islands campaigns, but it is not clear whether the award was approved and issued. In January 1945, as his buddies shipped out for Iwo Jima, Edwards was detailed to stay at Camp Maui and run the rear echelon sick bay with PhM1c Francis Munski.
Edwards stayed on duty with the First Battalion until the very last days of the war. On 12 August 1945 – three days before V-J Day – Edwards and most of the surviving veteran corpsmen were transferred to Fleet Marine Force Pacific Headquarters, pending reassignment in the United States. The war ended soon after, and William Edwards was honorably discharged on 25 October 1945.
Now a civilian, Edwards elected to stay in California rather than return to Mondamin. He settled in San Diego and married an Iowa native named Myra Ludwig; the couple had two daughters, but ultimately divorced in 1969. Edwards never went back to the medical field after the war – he worked as a mortician and drove an armored car – and spoke sparingly of his experiences, leading some in his family to remark “Bill is just odd since the war.”
William Edwards died in San Diego on 26 January 1996, at the age of eighty three. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Harrison County, Iowa.
Thanks to Jason Loukakis for the additional Edwards family information.
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I believe that this is my Uncle Bill. He was born and raised in Iowa. He came from a Quaker background. He had worked for a pharmacist in Iowa. After WW2, he worked as a mortician, drove an armored car for Pinkerton. He was married and had 2 daughters. He passed away in 1993.