My father was born September 22, 1917, at Cameron, a mill and farm near Alexandria, Virginia. He grew up loving to hunt and fish, especially to fish. He was the oldest of four brothers and two sisters. After high school he worked as a bank teller and went to banking school and later law school at night. When he was drafted in July, 1941, he had taken the bar exam, but didn't find out until September that he had passed. For a year he served as an army cook and baker in Georgia. In August, 1942, while home on a short leave, he married my mother, someone he'd known all her life, his younger sister's best friend, "the girl next door".

Meanwhile he had applied to the Air Corps and in September of 1942, went to Santa Ana, CA, to begin training, then to Visalia, CA, for primary training, and to Merced in January, 1943. In the middle of March, 1943, my mother flew back to Virginia because I was due in May, and my father was going to Douglas AFB, AZ, for advanced training. He received his wings there and went to March Field. In August, my mother took me on the train west across the country to see him -- not knowing he would soon receive orders to ship out. His crew left on September 26, 1943, for Hawaii. From there they flew to the Ellice Islands (Nanomea), and began bombing missions in B-24's up to the Marshall Islands and back--the longest bombing runs of the war -- unescorted. Edmund's plane, the Dashin' Daisy, was hit by zeros after bombing Wotje Atoll, about 30 miles out after turning for home, on December 26, 1943. It exploded, burned, and crashed into the Pacific. I owe my life to him, and I have a very good life, but at a terrible cost.

When I was told as a young child that my father was "lost in the war" I hoped that he would "be found" somehow on a Pacific atoll that had just been overlooked. In a wonderful way, though, I have found him in the collective memory of AWON. Thank you, Anne Mix.

In memory of the crew of the Dashin' Daisy, LTS Griffin, Juergens, Pullman, and Roberts, and SGTS Davis, Mandle, Reb, Serratore, and Stull.

Proud daughter,