Jonathan Edwards – Captain, United States Marine Corps

From a contemporary news report:

“A Michigan Marine officer will be the first victim of Operation Desert Storm to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The father of three and a worker in a stock brokerage until two months ago, is to be buried on February 15, 1991, among other members of the Marine Corps. He was a member of the Marine Corps Reserve unit he joined after eleven years of active duty in the United States Army.

The 34-year-old Grand Rapids native died on February 2, 1991 when his AH-1 helicopter crashed in the Saudi-Arabian desert. He was flying the helicopter with Marine Corps Major Eugene McCarthy of Brooklyn, New York, who also died in the crash.

Mechanical failure was apparently the cause of the crash. A memorial service was held for him in Cincinatti, Ohio, where his mother, Sally Fitzgerald, lives. About 130 people gathered to pay respects to him.

The family is to attend the service at Arlington, where brittle and dry oak leaved skittered in the wind yesterday. There was a chopping sound, too, from helicopters landing at the Pentagon, only a few hundred yards away from the gravesite. He chose to remain in the reserves after his active duty service. In early January, his unit – a Marine Corps Helicopter Attack Squadron 775 – was deployed to the Persian Gulf. He will join more than 200,000 military personnel who are buried in Arlington’s 612 acres.”

He is buried in Section 69 of Arlington National Cemetery.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard