Book: On
Celestial Wings
Air
University Press
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
1995.
Download a free copy
or order a copy from AU Press -- here
Edgar ("Ed") D. Whitcomb enlisted
in the Army Air Corps in 1940 and was commissioned a second lieutenant
the following year with the rating of aerial navigator. He served
two combat tours in the Philippines during WWII. After his active
military service, he graduated from Indiana University of Law.
He practiced law in southern Indiana over a 30 period of 30 years
including two years as assistant United States Attorney. A graduate
of the Army Command and General Staff course and the Air Force
Staff Course he served in the Air Force Reserve for 31 years and
retired with the rank of Colonel. Whitcomb served the state of
Indiana as a senator, secretary of state and governor.
Whitcomb's experiences of evading capture, then later being taken
prisoner by the Japanese, escaping by an all-night swim from Corregidor,
his recapture, and his ultimate repatriation from China as a civilian
under an assumed name.
Upon retirement from the practice of law at the age of 68, Whitcomb
took sailing to the open seas. He purchased a 30 foot sailboat
in Greece and sailed solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. When not sailing, Whitcomb makes his home in the village
of Hayden in rural southern Indiana.