Benjamin Franklin Edwards
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Benjamin Franklin Edwards
Born: January 17, 1919
Place: Eddyville, IA
Married: Grace Erleene Shipman
Date: March 6th 1943
Place: Bastrop, LA
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Date of Loss: 3 December 1944 on a bombing mission over Tokyo, Japan
Reclassified MIA to KIA/BNR on 4 Dec. 1945
I had always been told by my family that my Uncle Ben was on the Doolittle Raid when his plane was shot down. He was never heard from since. I never got to meet my Uncle Ben....nor his wife....not his daughter....
All other details of his life seemed out of my reach....until.....
In January of 1999, I was being interviewed by POW/MIA Freedom Radio about POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day planned for February 1, 1999. During that interview I spoke about my own quest in trying to locate my Uncle, who had been shot down over Japan in World War II and never came home.
On that same day, during that same hour, Wayne Martin was scanning his computer for a live broadcast when he heard me speaking. He contacted me via e-mail after the show and offered his help in trying to locate whatever happened to my Uncle.
Thanks to Wayne Martin, Bill Copeland, and the wonderful folks he has met along the way, this has been and will continue to be a *Net Collaboration*.
| Goldsworthy's Crew #101, 881st Squad
of the ROSALIA ROCKET Crew Picture taken 10/9/44 |
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Pictured Left to Right |
Click on their individual picture to read more about them (links will open into a new browser window.)
Although Robert Sollock (he was a part of the original crew) is pictured above, click his picture to read about Richard King, who replaced him that fateful flight.
Not pictured but present on flight that went down on 12/3/1944 were Col. Byron Brugge, as Observer.
Many thanks to Norman Karlin for providing me a glimpse into my Uncle's life before he went to Saipan. Norm was the Radar Man with my Uncle of Crew *R* for Roger on the Frivolous Sal of the 480th Antisubmarine Group during the Battle of the Atlantic - 1943:
Crew Standing in front of Frivolous Sal
Links will open up into a new browser window
A very special Thank You to Dave Murray; Rod Utech; Darwinn, and POW/MIA Freedom Radio for having me on their show! If not for that interview, Wayne Martin would never have heard me!
And I wouldn't have gotten this far in searching for the answers about my Uncle without the help of Wayne Martin and all the wonderful folks that have stepped forward and looked in dusty boxes in dusty attics and basements; searched through photo albums and diaries; talked with us by phone, e-mail, snailmail of memories; willing to share whatever they had to help me put the pieces of this puzzle together:
Wayne Martin: I want to personally thank for stepping in, in the very beginning and offering his time and devotion in helping me find out about my Uncle Ben and in helping me locate my long lost Aunt and cousin!
Thanks to Bill Copeland who provided us with not only his Uncle, Robert Copeland's diary, but Robert Goldsworthy's diary, the 500th Album, and my Aunt's wartime address, AND Bill Agee who provided my Aunt's wartime address a week later ...
Thanks to Norman Karlin for providing the crew pictures and stories of the Frivolous Sal and the Time article on the 480th Bombardment Group and Dave Welty, son of 1st Lt. William A. Welty, who provided additional pictures and stories of his father with the 500th Bombardment Group.
Our first break came when Wayne was able to get the MACR. Our next break came from his remembering that Mortuary Services probably investigated the Crash Site and thru them, we got the location of the Grave Site.
Once we knew that Ben was a B29'er, Wayne started creating a "Resource" list (which is in the process of be added to our World War II links in the hopes of helping others), and came across a few message boards, one of which is where he "met" Bill Copeland. Wayne spied an "881st" patch that was attributed to another person on the east coast, and he provided the Crew Picture and Robert Goldsworthy's address, as well as the name of the previous 500th Historian.
Calling Robert Goldsworthy, I was able to hear first hand about what he remembered about that mission. I am grateful for his kindness in recalling a very sad time in his life.
Wayne spent many hours reading the posts (he says he still hasn't finished yet..::smile:::..), extracting names and address and other information from those posts.
Much of our success in the last three weeks must be attributed to this mailing list and the kindess, interest and helpfulness of some of its members.
Going through a phone book listing the maiden name of my Aunt in the town where she married my Uncle, we finally found relatives! I couldn't help but break down crying when I spoke to someone that actually knew my Aunt and cousin! She then gave me their phone numbers and I immediately called.
A special thank you to Bob Sollock for his help; Mike Heffner & his father Jack Heffner for their help; C.C. Jordon for the B-29 pictures; and, Herth Tompkins (former 500th BG historian)& William Agee (current 500th Historian) for all the incredible copies of information.
I have come to an end of a very long journey, and feel at peace having found so many of the missing pieces to this puzzle. In addition, I have had the priveldge of meeting family that I have never met before! It was a genuine joy talking to my Aunt about Uncle Ben. She told me he had told her before he left that he would never jump of enemy territory. Talking to my cousin was a great joy, too! As I had never gotten the chance to meet my Uncle, let alone see a picture of him, she sent me a copy of the picture you see at the top of this page. She also sent me a picture of my Aunt & Uncle together; a news article about my Uncle's mission and loss; and a copy of the letter sent to my Aunt a year later declaring him KIA/BNR (killed in action/body not recovered.) I am grateful to them both for allowing me to have come into their lives so suddenly like, and for sharing what they remember or know about their husband and father....my Uncle Ben.
Here are some comments that have been passed on to me about my Uncle Ben.....
Bob Sollock (Texas): " Ben Edwards was about 6' tall, and 190 pounds in weight"
The crew joined at Walker Field, Hayes, KS in the spring of 1944. They trained there for several months, leaving for Saipan in October, 1944 (Crew pitcure [not yet shown on this webpage..hopefully will be here soon] shows them in KS on Oct. 9th, 1944).
The men with wives were not provided on-post housing. Sollock and his wife ended up in a basement apartment in Hayes, KS.
" Edwards was an excellent Navigator, a steady fellow, no character flaws and well liked."
Colonel King (Squandron Commander) flew with the Crew from Kanas to Saipan. He read Forever Amber (which was a best seller at the time).
Trained on Saipan for about 1.5 months before going into combat. Bombed Iwo Jima, but this did not count against their combat missions.
Edwards did not like breaking up crews. He said that it was his experience that when a crew was "broken up" (in this case he mean on a mission-by-mission basis), that the plane got "shot down". (On 03 Dec 44, Lt. Sollock was bumped by the 500th BG Commander, the plane was shot down on that flight).
" Edwards said that he would not bail out over enemy territory".
Squadrons made up of twelve planes.
They lived in Quonset huts.
They did not discuss personal lives prior to war.
During the first ten missions, over half of the crews had been lost.
The B29s had engine problems (this is well documented, although there seems to have been different reasons in different regions where the planes were flown. Sollock claimed that the Engine Cowlings were overheating, however other WEB-sites have a lot of information on this and there are reports of valve problems and engine underpowering.)
"Goldsworthy was the best pilot Sollock ever flew with."
Robert Goldsworthy (Washington): He related to me that Uncle Ben had been a close and personal friend. He said that their wives had been close friends, too. He recalled what had happened on that plane that day....remembered seeing Uncle Ben calling for him and then being engulfed in flames.
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