Edmondson, Keith (Interview outline and video), 2011

Smither, James (Interviewer)

Keith Edmondson was born in 1924 in Wheaton, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Glen Ellyn. After graduating from high school, Edmondson began attending Purdue University the following fall, which was where he heard about the Aviation Cadet Program, which offered a deferment from military service until the end of school; however, in February 1943, the government changed the program and Edmondson enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He trained in Texas, Idaho and Nevada and was sent to the Pacific in 1944 as a bombardier on a B-24. After receiving additional training in Hawaii, Edmondson's crew deployed to the island of Kwajalein, located in the Marshall Island chain. While stationed on Kwajalein, Edmondson's B-24 participated in bombing attacks against the Japanese-held island of Truk. Eventually, Edmondson's squadron moved from Kwajalein to Guam, where they began launched bombing attacks against Japanese-held Iwo Jima. From there, he went on to Okinawa, where he completed his requisite forty missions and rotated home.

2011-04-14

Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives

Veterans History Project (U.S.)

EdmondsonK1184V

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