December 5, 2009: CAP WWII Subchaser Hero Col. Edmond "Eddie" Edwards Dies

On this date in 2009, one of the first Civil Air Patrol pilots to spot a German U-boat, Col. Edmond I. "Eddie" Edwards, died at the age of 96.


An excerpt from the Salem (Ore.) News:

One of Civil Air Patrol’s most famous World War II “subchasers,” honored for heroism by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died on Saturday, Dec. 5, after a long illness. He was 96 years old.  Col. Edmond I. “Eddie” Edwards was widely known as the first Coastal Patrol (later Civil Air Patrol) pilot to spot a Nazi U-boat and radio its position to U.S. naval forces. The vessel crash-dived and headed farther out to sea, where it was less of a menace to U.S. shipping. This occurred on March 10, 1942, near the start of the war.  “He was probably one of the first subchasers to see the enemy,” said Roger Thiel, a senior member and independent historian with CAP.

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