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| PFC Edward Maynard served in the same company of the 149th Regiment with his twin Edgar and younger brother Fred. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192570017/edward-maynard |
Edward Maynard never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom April 22, 1945 on the Pacific island of Luzon. He died in the arms of his twin brother, 8,000 miles from their Kentucky home at the age of 24.
Edward was born on July 28, 1920 in Pinsonfork, Pike County, Kentucky, a coal mining area near the West Virginia border. His parents were Rudolph and Octavia Charles Maynard, both of whom were also born in Kentucky. His father was a coal miner. Edward and his twin brother, Edgar, were the oldest of nine children, seven boys and two girls. He attended McVeigh High School in Pike County and was married to Dixie May Maynard.
Edward and his twin brother, Edgar, and their younger brother, Fred, all enlisted in April 1941, and they served together in the 149th Infantry Regiment, 38th Infantry Division. In March and April of 1945, the 38th ID was engaged in fierce fighting with the Japanese in the rugged Zambales Mountains on the island of Luzon during the Allied drive to retake the Philippines.
Edward was struck by a bullet from a Japanese machine gun. Edgar fired into the machine gun nest and silenced it, and then carried his brother to the shade of a large rock. Their brother Fred came running to join them. The three brothers sat together and talked of home and family. Edward died in the arms of his twin brother. A newspaper account said the brothers could “shoot the eyes out of squirrels.” The three brothers were credited with killing 54 Japanese that day.
Edward’s body was returned home for burial in 1948. He is interred in the Maynard family cemetery in Pinsonfork, as are his parents.
Thank you, PFC Edward Maynard, for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Edward.
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This profile was written by John F. Schlatter (whose birthday is today!). “I’m from Knoxville, Tennessee and a retired corporate public relations manager, living in Las Vegas. I served as an active duty and reserve Army officer 1974-82. I’ve written two books about veterans. One tells the stories of WWII veterans through postcards they wrote to the folks back home, and the other honors about 50 of the 168 Americans who died in Vietnam on the Fourth of July. I’ve also been a volunteer in the effort to find photographs of all 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. Researching and writing the stories of those who died to preserve freedom has gone from a hobby to a passion for me. If we don’t honor and remember, who will?”
This is one of the final 50 stories (37) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Normandy fallen and Silver Star hero Dale Roysdon, 82nd Airborne Division. You can read about Dale here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by
The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation
“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”
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