King Edward Postell

Name:

Edward Postell King

Rank:

Major General

Serial Number:

Unit:

United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)

Date of Death:

1958-08-31

State:

Georgia

Cemetery:

Saint John In the Wilderness Cemetery, Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina, USA

Plot:

Row:

Grave:

Decoration:

Army Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster

Comments:

Edward Postell King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1884. As the grandson and nephew of Confederate soldiers (to include Major General Lafayette McLaws) during the American Civil War, King had a strong desire to join the US Army. He entered the University of Georgia, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, graduating in 1902.

Edward was a major general in the United States Army who gained prominence for leading the defense of the Bataan Peninsula in the Battle of Bataan against the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in World War II. On 11 March 1942, by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, MacArthur left for Australia. Wainwright was appointed to succeed MacArthur as General of the Armies of the Philippines while King became the commanding general of the Philippine-American forces on the Bataan Peninsula. At the time, King was the commander of the artillery.

After months of fighting the invading Japanese Army and with food and medicine exhausted, King himself, accepting sole responsibility to disobey MacArthur's and Wainwright's orders, chose to surrender his troops on 9 April 1942 (this day is commemorated in the Philippines as the Araw ng Kagitingan, or "Day of Valor"). A combined American and Filipino force of over 75,000 surrendered; this was the largest surrender of a military force in American history. Thousands of these soldiers would die under Japanese captivity during the ensuing Bataan Death March and imprisonment.

Wainwright and his men, numbering 10,000, held on to Corregidor until they too were forced to surrender on 6 May 1942.

King spent three and half years as a captive of the Japanese, who often mistreated him due to his rank. Both Wainwright and King expected to be court-martialled for disobeying orders that they should not surrender. However, they were treated as heroes when they were finally freed.

After the war, King returned to the United States where he retired to a home in Georgia, devoting himself to many volunteer causes, such as the Red Cross. He died in 1958 and is buried at the Cemetery of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church – Flat Rock, NC.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org