Edwards Fulfills Obligation to Friends and Neighbors

SEELEY LAKE – When asked why he joined the military, Seeley Lake resident Scott Edwards answered, "I received a letter informing me 'You have been chosen by your friends and neighbors'." Sixty-five years later he still chuckles at the wording of his draft notice.

Edwards said he had good timing throughout his four-year military career. Starting as a young man digging ditches for the San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Edwards worked his way up to an electrician apprentice, which allowed him temporary draft deferment. While working on his apprenticeship, he joined the Naval Reserve. When his apprenticeship was over and he gained his Electrician Journeyman card, his draft status returned to 1-A and he knew what his "friends and neighbors" would soon be requesting, especially since America had become involved in the Korean Conflict.

Edwards was sent to Port Hueneme on the California coast for Naval Basic Training. He said, "They sent Marine drill instructors up from Camp Pendleton to give us combat training. They sure had fun with us."

Once Basic Training was finished, Edwards was assigned to SeaBee MU101, a Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit, and flown to Tokyo.

"That's where my first good luck started," said Edwards. "I was fogged in there two days, and during that two days, the Peace Accord [Armistice] was signed in Korea and the shooting stopped."

More good luck followed because he was assigned to a Marine air base, which gave him what he considered the luxury of the same bed every night. In addition, though he was issued a rifle, he said he felt he "had a whole battalion of marines guarding me."

Edwards distinguished himself during his stay at that base by solving a troubling generator issue. Three generators served the entire camp but when one needed maintenance, it was necessary to shut down all three, cutting off all power until the issue was fixed.

Edwards related how he diagnosed the problem because of his "recent superknowledge of electricity," backed by his Journeyman card. Though it took almost a full month, he was able to reconfigure the generators so that each worked independently and could be serviced without shutting down the others.

Edwards said, "For that, I got a real nice letter from the commanding officer of the base."

But what Edwards identifies as the most important lesson he learned during his time at the base was getting to know the Koreans who worked under him. "I realized these were real human beings that had the same feelings I had. Having never been out of the country before, it was kind of amazing to me that these were real people."

Another experience that impacted Edwards powerfully during his military service occurred while he was stationed at Iwakuni, Japan, near the end of his enlistment. He said he fell in love with Japan and its people. He even began taking language lessons and enjoyed going to Japanese samurai movies. While there he and two of his buddies took the train to Hiroshima where the atom bomb had been dropped almost 10 years before.

"That was a real amazing experience. To see the devastation that was still there and to see the rebuilding they had done," said Edwards. "One of the highlights of visiting there was this bridge right near the middle of town. The bridge had a solid concrete railing and you could see the shadows of people – where the concrete was burned and the person made a shade – so there was an outline of people here and there along that bridge. It had an impact! Just talking about it still does."

If Edwards found amusing the draft letter that initiated his military career, he was equally amused with the letter he got when he returned to the United States. It warned him if he didn't reenlist within 90 days, they "would be forced" to send him his discharge papers.

Edwards and his wife Barbara became full time residents of Seeley Lake in 1993. At age 86, he is still active and serves as Vice President of Veterans and Families of Seeley Lake.

Edwards said, "The main reason I'm still alive and still in Seeley Lake, in one word: snowmobiling. I'm an avid snowmobiler."