Edmund Joseph Beckwith
PFC in 3133rd Signal Service Co
ASN#39926345 Casualty: Wounded
Born 1925 in ID, Died 1968
County of residence at enlistment: Twin Falls County, ID
Other residence(s): Twin Falls, ID; Wichita, KS
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: student
College education after the war: Idaho State College
Edmund Beckwith was born on September 8, 1925 in Twin Falls, ID, the youngest of seven children. His father was a clerk with the local water company. His mother was a Twin Falls pioneer (according to her obituary), arriving there in 1910 when the community was only six years old.
Edmund registered for the draft on his 18th birthday, September 9, 1943. He officially graduated from Twin Falls High School in May, 1944, but he had finished his schoolwork and enlisted on January 27, 1944, heading for basic training on February 17. He was assigned to the 3133 Signal Service Company, trained at Pine Camp, and headed to Europe with the unit in March, 1945. But in July he broke his hip and leg in a vehicle accident, and was invalided home to a US Army convalescent hospital. He was discharged from the Army on March 18, 1946, and, on the same day, enlisted in the US Air Force.
He attended Idaho State College in Pocatello, ID, majoring in speech, for at least one semester in 1948; possibly longer. Little else is known of his Air Force career, but sometime in or before 1953 he was transferred to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, KS, and would spend the rest of his military life there.
He married Marian Catherine Roberts, a member of the Osage Nation on her mother’s side, and a nurse at Wichita Hospital, on October 8, 1953. By that time, Edmund had achieved the rank of Staff SGT. They would go to have four children: Robert, Timothy, Christopher, and Julia.
He retired from the Air Force with the rank of T/SGT on April 1, 1968 at the age of 42. Less than seven months later, he died of unexplained causes; his oldest child was only 13. Edmund is buried at Pawhuska City Cemetery, Pawhuska, OK. His wife, a native of Pawhuska, continued to practice nursing in Wichita—she worked as an RN for over 50 years.
Sources:
1930 census
1943 draft card
1944 enlistment record
1944 article in the Times-News (Twin Falls, ID) about his military career
https://www.newspapers.com/image/566132997/?match=1&terms=edmund%20j%20beckwith
1945 WW2 hospital admission card files
1948 article in the Times-News (Twin Falls, ID) about his college studies
https://www.newspapers.com/image/566122449/?match=1&terms=edmund%20j%20beckwith
1953 engagement announcement in The Osage Journal and The Osage County News (OK)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/905891438/?match=1&terms=edmund%20beckwith
1953 wedding announcement in the Pawhuska Journal-Capital (OK)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/906874470/?match=1&terms=edmund%20beckwith
1962 US city directories, Wichita, KS
1968 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67124687/edmond-joseph-beckwith
1968 Social Security death index
1968 US headstone applications for military veterans
1968 VA death record
1968 obituary in the Wichita Beacon (Wichita, KS)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/694897971/?match=1&terms=edmond%20j%20beckwith%20%60
2021 wife’s Find a Grave record (includes her obituary)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/234780598/marian_catherine-beckwith