Edmund Waller Wilkes was born on April 18, 1913, in Vancouver, Clark County, Washington. He was the son of Gilbert Van Buren Wilkes Sr. and Lucy Marshall Waller Wilkes. He was married to Mabel Bailey "Gurney" Gurney Sullivan. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1930 as one of its youngest cadets and graduated in 1934, choosing the Infantry branch. His early service included posts at Fort Screven, Georgia. In 1940, he was assigned to foreign service with the 31st Infantry Regiment at Quartel d’España, Manila, where he commanded Company B. Promoted to Major in early 1941, Wilkes fought with a small group of American and Filipino soldiers in the cane fields and mountains of the Philippines, often operating behind Japanese lines.

While serving on Bataan, Major Wilkes was hospitalized but longed to return to combat. After the fall of Bataan, he was captured by the Japanese and forced to endure the Bataan Death March to Camp Cabanatuan in Central Luzon. Though he survived the brutal march, he later died of diphtheria on June 26, 1942. He is now buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, weremember.abmc.gov