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<em>William Hampton Edwards</em> was born in Ironton, Ohio, on 4 January 1917, the son of Walter and Mary (Hampton) Edwards. Bill attended grammar and high school in Ironton, earning an excellent academic record as well as winning his letter in football and participating in track and basketball. After high school, he attended Ohio State University for three years, where he was a member of the University Reserve Officers Training Corps and studied engineering. In 1938 he won an appointment to the Military Academy from Ohio’s 10th Congressional District.</div>
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Entering West Point on 1 July 1938, Bill easily adapted to cadet life, becoming one of the most liked and respected members of I Company. As an upperclassman, he willingly devoted much of his time, energy, and patience acting as an academic coach to classmates and underclassmen. During his Second Class year, he made cadet corporal and, as First Classman, took on the responsible rank of company first sergeant. Academically, Bill showed growth and perseverance as a cadet, rising from a class rank of 402 at the end of Fourth Class year to a final class standing of 65. Upon graduation, 29 May 1942, he was commissioned in the Field Artillery and assigned to the Air Corps for flight training.</div>
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Less than a week after graduation, Bill reported to primary flying school at Orangeburg, South Carolina. From there he was assigned to basic school at Shaw Field, Sumter, South Carolina, and then to advanced flying school at Spence Field. Moultrie, Georgia, where he was one of the few members of Flying Class 42-K to fly P-39 pursuit planes before winning his pilot’s wings. He was a member of the “Victory Class” which graduated on 7 December 1942 and was almost immediately transferred from the Field Artillery to the Air Corps, at about the same time being promoted to first lieutenant.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>.</div>
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Shortly after being assigned to a Provisional P-40 Pursuit Squadron at Spence, Bill married Mary Woodward Pierce of East Lansing, Michigan. This Christmas Eve 1942 wedding culminated a three-year courtship which began when Bill was a cadet and Mary a student at Vassar College.</div>
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In January 1943, he was transferred to the 328 Fighter Group stationed at Hamilton Field, California. As a member of this operational training unit, he was instrumental in training and developing young pilots just out of flying school into fighter pilots. In October of that year, he was promoted to captain, Army Air Corps. He received further flight training at air bases at Santa Rosa, California, and Seattle, Washington, and in August 1944, Bill left the country for overseas duty in the European Theatre of Operations. He was stationed in Italy as a member of the 49th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, with the 15th Air Force flying from the fields in Foggia. He flew a P-38 (Lightning) and was awarded two Air Medals for combat flying before his final mission.</div>
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On 26 November 1944, while on a deck level strafing mission of an enemy airdrome near Szekesfehervar, Hungary, Bill’s plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. A fellow pilot in his squadron who had trained with him at Santa Rosa wrote that “every officer and enlisted man in the squadron had the highest regard for Ed.”</div>
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Friends and family remember Bill as a man with a sense of humor, whose dry wit was often seasoned with the folk expressions of his mid-western upbringing. His even disposition and his goodnatured approach to life were the hallmarks of a man who knew what he was about. Duty, Honor, Country, he referred to in his usual matter of fact way, but his pride in being a member of the Corps ran deep. Perhaps the best tribute to his brief life was voiced by an elderly cousin when she heard the news of his death: “I think he was the finest of his generation in our family.”</div>
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Bill is survived by his wife (Mrs. Eric Kerr) and their daughter, Susan Edwards Kerr.</div>
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<em>Mary Kerr and P.M.</em></div>