John Ellis Edwards
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John "Ellis" Edwards (May 17, 1922 – June 3, 1979) was an American aviator who served with the
Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He served in the
332nd Fighter Group The 332d Expeditionary Operations Group is a provisional air expeditionary group of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command, currently active. It was inactivated on 8 May 2012 and reactivated 16 November 2014. The group forms part of ...
and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross award. He also served as a pilot in the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
.


Early life and education

Edward and Willie Edwards were his parents. He had a brother (Jerome) and sister (Gwendolyn). His parents moved to Steubenville, Ohio and he and his siblings attended
Steubenville High School Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District. Athletics The school offers baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, ...
. After high school graduation he and his brother Jerome both attended
West Virginia State College West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia, United States. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute. It is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges a ...
. The college became one of the first black colleges to enroll pilots in a Pilot Training Program and both brothers enrolled in the program. Both brothers became Tuskegee Airmen after completing training in Tuskegee. His brother Jerome was killed in a training exercise May 7, 1943 when his
P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entr ...
suffered a catastrophic failure upon takeoff. His brother's death was the first for the 332nd Fighter Group.


Military service

Upon completing his training at Tuskegee, Edwards was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on April 8, 1944. He was assigned to the
99th Fighter Squadron 99th may refer to: * 99th Brigade (disambiguation) * 99th Division (disambiguation) * 99th Regiment (disambiguation) * 99th Squadron (disambiguation) * 99th Street (disambiguation) 99th Street may refer to: In New York * 99th Street (Manhattan) * 9 ...
,
332nd Fighter Group The 332d Expeditionary Operations Group is a provisional air expeditionary group of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command, currently active. It was inactivated on 8 May 2012 and reactivated 16 November 2014. The group forms part of ...
. In 1945 he was sent to Italy and assigned to Ramitelli Air Force Base where he and other Tuskegee pilots escorted allied planes on bombing runs. On April 1, 1945 he was acting as squadron section leader, when he shot down two
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
s on an escort mission. Edwards was awarded Distinguished flying Cross. Shortly after he was discharged the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
began, and he joined the Air Force, serving in the 332nd Fighter Group and flew many combat missions in the
F86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the Korean War he moved to Washington, D.C., and later he moved to Los Angeles, California.


Awards

*Distinguished Flying Cross *
Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establi ...
* Presidential Unit Citation *Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2006 Edwards hometown, Steubenville, OH is known as the " City of Murals". There is a mural (located along Washington Street in Steubenville) dedicated to him and his brother Jerome. He and his brother also have their names engraved in the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial located in Sewickley Cemetery in
Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 3,907 at the 2020 census. The Sewick ...
.


See also

*
Executive Order 9981 Executive Order 9981 was an executive order issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces. The Order led to the r ...
*
List of Tuskegee Airmen List of Tuskegee Airmen contains the names of notable Tuskegee Airmen, who were a group of primarily African-American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. The name also applies to the navigators, bombardie ...
*
Military history of African Americans The military history of African Americans spans African-American history, the history of the United States and the military history of the United States from the slavery in the United States, arrival of the first enslaved Africans during the co ...


Further reading

*''The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History, 1939–1949'' *"Born to Fly the Skies." ''Weirton Daily Times'' (Weirton, W.Va.) 23 February 2013. Web. 17 January 2014. *"Tuskegee Airmen Pilot Listing." Tuskegee University, 2014, Web. 17 January 2014.


References


Notes


External links


Tuskegee Airmen
at
Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was founded as a normal school for teachers on July 4, 1881, by the ...

Tuskegee Airmen Archives
at the
University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...
Libraries.
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.


(
U.S. National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational p ...
)
Tuskegee Airmen National Museum
* ''
Fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
'' (2009 play about the 332d Fighter Group) {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, John Ellis 1922 births 1979 deaths United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Tuskegee Airmen American Korean War pilots