468th Bomb Group Speaks
“We young flyboys who first served under Lt. Colonel Edmundson, Squadron Commander of one of the first B-29 outfits, found him to be firm, fair and forgiving of our many faults. We admired him and were proud to serve under him. Later, at our reunions when he was a retired Lt. General, we still called him Col. Jim. He understood, and went along with the reduction in rank. He knew that we had the greatest respect and love for him. That was Col. Jim. He would have had it no other way.”
- James “Smokey” Stover
“It was the personal interest he took in every last one of us...something I never saw in any other leader. He sweat-out the return of every crews, and never rested until he knew that everyone of us had returned safely from the mission.”
- Stub Roberts
“His ability to pick us up off the floor after listening to a grim briefing mission briefing. By then, we had enough experience that we were no longer trying to be aerial heroes and were able to judge the likely difficulty of a mission based on the mission briefing we had just received. Colonel Jim would stand up in front of us, and with one or two sentences, lift our spirits and, suddenly, we would go--laughing and talking--out the door of the Briefing Room, and almost race each other to reach the Flight Line so as to be the first crew off on the mission.”
- James Pattillo
“I worked directly under him for 4 1/2 years after World War II and never knew another man with the ‘smarts’ he had...we would receive a Field Order, he would read it quickly and hand it to us (to prepare the Briefing) with few comments, and would leave us entirely alone to do our work. Most other commanders kept coming back, looking over our shoulders, and making suggestions as we worked. He never did. But would wait until we were ready, listen to our presentation, make a few informal comments or suggestions to improve the plan, but let us use our own ideas and suggestions to the fullest. He was a great leader.”
- Frank Nye
468th Bomb Group Speaks
“We young flyboys who first served under Lt. Colonel Edmundson, Squadron Commander of one of the first B-29 outfits, found him to be firm, fair and forgiving of our many faults. We admired him and were proud to serve under him. Later, at our reunions when he was a retired Lt. General, we still called him Col. Jim. He understood, and went along with the reduction in rank. He knew that we had the greatest respect and love for him. That was Col. Jim. He would have had it no other way.”
- James “Smokey” Stover
“It was the personal interest he took in every last one of us...something I never saw in any other leader. He sweat-out the return of every crews, and never rested until he knew that everyone of us had returned safely from the mission.”
- Stub Roberts
“His ability to pick us up off the floor after listening to a grim briefing mission briefing. By then, we had enough experience that we were no longer trying to be aerial heroes and were able to judge the likely difficulty of a mission based on the mission briefing we had just received. Colonel Jim would stand up in front of us, and with one or two sentences, lift our spirits and, suddenly, we would go--laughing and talking--out the door of the Briefing Room, and almost race each other to reach the Flight Line so as to be the first crew off on the mission.”
- James Pattillo
“I worked directly under him for 4 1/2 years after World War II and never knew another man with the ‘smarts’ he had...we would receive a Field Order, he would read it quickly and hand it to us (to prepare the Briefing) with few comments, and would leave us entirely alone to do our work. Most other commanders kept coming back, looking over our shoulders, and making suggestions as we worked. He never did. But would wait until we were ready, listen to our presentation, make a few informal comments or suggestions to improve the plan, but let us use our own ideas and suggestions to the fullest. He was a great leader.”
- Frank Nye