Carl R. Edmonds, from Hastings, Michigan, (b.1920) entered flight training in the Army Air Corps on November 3, 1941. He soloed before Thanksgiving of 1941 and graduated from flight school May 20,1942, when he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant.

One month later he was sent to Alaska, as a co-pilot on a B-26 then a short time later flying the C-47. He was a co-pilot until December 1942 when he became a first pilot.

In early 1944 Lieutenant Edmonds was asked to be a co-pilot on a Lockheed C-60, flying for Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., Commanding General of the Alaska Defense Command. After only two weeks he became first pilot and held that job until General Buckner was transferred to Okinawa in July 1944.

Edmonds then transferred back to the US mainland and was assigned to a scheduled run out of Los Angeles, Tucson and El Paso. He carried injured service people coming in from the Pacific theater to hospitals near their homes. Near the end of the war he flew two weeks in Brazil bringing service men back from Europe and Africa. He was stationed at Hamilton Field, Calif. He left the service in 1945 as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals for meritorious service in World War II.

Carl Edmonds currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife, Althea. He has two sons. He retired from the City of Grand Rapids as an engineer in the Water Services Department.