OPINION

A bold and foolhardy soldier

I spent much of Veterans Day reading about Dan Edwards, one of the most remarkable soldiers in the history of Arkansas and the nation. Unlike his fellow World War I hero, Herman Davis of Mississippi County, Edwards is not well known in our state history--perhaps due to his unorthodox ways and penchant for ignoring orders. Nevertheless, Edwards' exploits of bravery, excessive and self-endangering though they might have been, rank him among the most decorated veterans in the history of the U.S. Army.

Daniel Richmond Edwards was born April 9, 1897, to a poor family in Mooreville, Texas. His sad situation worsened when, at age 9, Daniel's mother died. A few years later, the youngster left home to make a life for himself. Harold Coogan of Mena, a retired educator and local history authority, has written: "The lad survived and matured rapidly, working at a livestock dipping vat."

Young Dan Edwards bounced around Texas during his youth, including a brief association with the Texas Rangers. He joined the failed 1916 American military expedition to capture the Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa. And, at age 20, Edwards joined the U.S. Army on the very day that the U.S. declared war against the Germans on April 6, 1917.

It should not surprise us that, given Edwards' martial enthusiasm, he was soon in the midst of combat in Europe. According to Coogan, Edwards "served most of the war as a machine gunner in the First Division of the Allied Expeditionary Force."

Edwards' penchant for bravery--albeit of the foolhardy kind--was first demonstrated in May 1918 when American soldiers engaged a powerful German unit near Cantigny, France. Edwards suffered hideous injuries during his first major engagement. Here's how Coogan described Edwards' condition: "Edwards was nearer death than alive. He had five serious gashes in his stomach; a gunshot wound in the right foot; a gunshot to his right knee, shattering the kneecap; a shot in the right thigh and face, leaving his left cheekbone shattered; one eye sagging in its socket; and the roof of his mouth suffered injury."

Private Edwards' exploits at Cantigny resulted in his receiving the Distinguished Service Cross as well as a Silver Star. In awarding the DSC, the War Department described Edwards' advancing with his machine gun on his shoulder, then providing cover while the American troops retrenched--which resulted in the deaths of the three other men in Edwards' squad. Edwards treated his own wounds, then "he remained alone in his position throughout the day, firing whenever a target offered, withstanding attacks by liquid fire [from flame-throwers] and machine gun fire, he refused to be evacuated and continued to operate his gun until nightfall, when his company was relieved." He was hospitalized in serious condition.

In this era in which heel spurs will keep a young man out of military service, it is truly astounding what Edwards did next. Here is how Edwards' actions are described in the biography of him in the Handbook of Texas Online: "Edwards learned that his unit was preparing for another attack, left the hospital without permission, and hitchhiked to the front [Soissons, France], where he rejoined his outfit. During the fighting he crawled into a German trench, his severely wounded right arm notwithstanding, and there killed four German soldiers and took four others prisoner." This was only the beginning.

Edwards claimed that while escorting his prisoners to American lines, the group was hit by artillery and, in the words of Harold Coogan, "... all five men amazingly survived, but Edwards found himself in a precarious situation. His right arm was wedged in the wall of the trench under a huge rock mass ..." At this point Edwards himself picks up the story: "I made the four prisoners back off a little ways, and stand where I could see them. Then I pulled my bolo [a large heavy knife] and got a good grip on it with my left hand, settled my right elbow solid on the parapet, and swung the bolo down on it with a quick, clean blow."

Without a hint of humor or irony, Edwards later recalled that "right then it hit me hard that I didn't have but one hand left. Before I done anything else I had to bandage the stump of my arm." This story only gets more gruesome as Edwards instructed one of the German prisoners to heat the blade of his bolo and "he seared the stump with my bolo ..." All this time, he had a pistol in his left hand, though he admitted later that the bandaging left him "shaky."

The story should be over at this point, but of course it was not. Edwards and his prisoners were still behind enemy lines. As they approached the American forces, another German shell exploded in their midst, killing one of the prisoners, and shattering Edwards' already injured left leg. Once again, Edwards survived--and this time he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The award citation ends with: "The bravery of Private First Class Edwards, now a tradition in his battalion because of his previous gallant acts, again caused the morale of his comrades to be raised to high pitch."

Considering all his wounds, Edwards had a remarkably active life following the war. He lived much of the 1950s and 1960s in Mena, though he resided for a time near Mount Ida, where he worked as a professional fishing guide on Lake Ouachita.

Unlike many veterans of the war, Edwards was not reticent in speaking of his role in the hostilities. His reputation grew dramatically in 1932 when famed journalist, newscaster, and author Lowell Thomas published a book on Edwards' military career, This Side of Hell. Sadly, Edwards' legacy has been sullied in recent years by charges that he fabricated parts of the story.

Dan Edwards died in 1967 and was buried in a cemetery near his home in Royal, Ark., west of Hot Springs.

Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living near Glen Rose in rural Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.

Editorial on 11/19/2017

Upcoming Events