<div>
Major <em>Edmund W. Wilkes</em>, fondly known by his classmates as Nanny, was born in April 1912 at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, the son of Gilbert Van Buren Wilkes, an officer of the Corps of Engineers and a 1909 graduate of West Point.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ned’s youth was typical of an Army brat, moving from post to post with his father; China (Peiping) was one of the places that he learned to know as a youngster. Little did he realize that years later he was to return to the Orient to protect United States interests there. Army life appeared to be to his liking since he accepted an appointment to West Point and entered the Academy in 1930, one of the youngest cadets in his Class. Ned made the grade despite adolescent awkwardness, and in later life he recalled fondly his experience in Plebe dancing where he was a star member of the “Elephant Squad.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ned was hospitalized in Plebe spring as a result of a lacrosse injury. One classmate remembers him hobbling around, playfully threatening his bedridden classmates with broken bones with his cane, not always to their mutual delight.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ned graduated in June 1934 and picked the Infantry as his branch. His first duty was at Fort Screven, Georgia, where, as a young company commander, he met his future wife, Gurney. They were married at the Cadet Chapel at West Point on 7 September 1935. Linda Janet Wilkes was born at Fort Benning in 1938, and Gurney Wilkes was born at Fort Missoula, Montana, in 1940.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Shortly after the birth of Gurney in 1940 the gnomes in Washington (as we thought of Career Management in those days) picked Ned’s name for foreign service. Ned was assigned to the 31st Infantry at Quartel d’Espana in Manila, Philippine Islands, and commanded “B” Company. Ned’s family came home on the US AT Republic in May, arriving in New York on 11 June 1941. Seven short years after graduation the decks had been cleared for action in the Philippines, and, of course, it came.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In early 1941 Ned was promoted to major and was serving in that capacity when the war broke out. He, along with a small band of Americans and Filipinos, fought valiantly in the cane fields and mountains during the early part of the war, most of the time behind the Japanese lines. A former comrade-in-arms described him as “a one-man army who was never given the proper credit for what he had accomplished.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Later, Ned was on Bataan where he was hospitalized. The nurses had his shoes (about size 10-12). They refused to give them back because he wanted to get into the thick of the fighting again.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
After the fall of Bataan, Ned was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese and forced, along with all the other POWs, to undergo the Death March to Camp Cabanatuan in central Luzon. There, although he survived the incredible hardships of the march, he died of diptheria on 24 June 1942.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Prior to the outbreak of the war Ned had received several commendations for his excellent work. He especially prided himself on being a recipient of one from General MacArthur, which he received just a few months before Pearl Harbor in connection with his work with the active duty training of the reserve elements of the Philippine Army. Ned was also the recipient of the Bronze Star.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ned’s final resting place is Manila. He is fondly remembered by his classmates who saw him mature at West Point from a gangling youth to a smart-looking second “looey.” His memory is cherished by his wife and daughters who today, with their families, no doubt would be giving him great joy and much pride if the fortunes of war had not taken the young life of a loving father and gallant Infantryman molded in the tradition of West Point.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>J. D. Lawlor, Classmate</em></div>
<div>
</div>