JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Leslie Edwards was born Aug. 9, 1924, in Memphis Tennessee. He was the youngest of three children, his father was bellhop and his mother looked after the children. The family moved from Memphis to Cincinnati in 1925. Before dropping out of high school in 1938, he attended Harriet Beecher Stowe School in Cincinnati Ohio. He worked at several jobs before settling at Khan’s Packinghouse in 1941. He married Anne Mae Green in 1943.
He was drafted into the Army Air Corp in 1943. His basic training was at Sheppard Field
Texas. After basic, he was train on aircraft engine mechanics for medium bombers. Following training he was assigned to Selfridge Field outside Detroit where he worked on bombers belonging to the 477th Bombardment Group Medium. There were four Tuskegee Airmen bomber squadrons during WWII (616th, 617th, 618th and 619th) that were organized under the 477th Bomb Group they were slated for combat in the Pacific Theater but WWII ended before their deployment.
In 1944, Leslie Edwards was reassigned to Godman Field outside Louisville, KY. There he was made the Flight Chief of Flight A of the 617 Bomb Squadron responsible for maintaining the five B-25 bombers assigned to the squadron. In 1945, he was reassigned to Freeman Field in Seymour Indiana. Also in 1945 the 477th was ordered back to Godman. The returning Tuskegee Airmen fighter squadrons and group were combined with the bomber squadrons and group to become the 477th Composite Group with its headquarters at Godman Field in Kentucky SSgt Leslie Edwards Jr. was discharged in 1945.
The 477th never deployed overseas for combat partly because it was activated late in the war; partly because a bombardment group took longer to train than a fighter group; and partly because it was transferred from base to base because of racial trouble. While the bombers units did not participate in combat overseas members of the unit were part of an event known as the “Freeman Field Mutiny,” when in April 1945 black officers attempted to enter a segregated officers club. A total of 120 black officers of the 477th Bombardment Group were arrested at one time or another during the “Freeman Field Mutiny.” Segregated facilities were contrary to existing Army Air Corp Regulations. It has been said that this act of civil disobedience was instrumental in President Truman issuing Executive Order 9981 in July 1948 which directed the desegregation of the U.S. military.
After WWII both Leslie and his wife completed high school and he received a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Solomon P. Chase College in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1961. Leslie was initially denied returning to his job at Khan’s Packinghouse, but the union supported him and he regained his position where he stayed until 1964, when he left to become a federal meat inspection in Cincinnati. Leslie worked as the Supervisor of Meat Inspectors for the Southwest Area of Ohio from 1970 to 1986. From 1987 to 1997 he was a Register Sanitarian for the State of Ohio responsible for assuring that meat packing facilities were in compliance with state codes.
Leslie and his wife Annie Mae had four children and 19 grandchildren. Following his retirement in 1997 he became the fulltime care giver for his wife until she died in November 2016. They were married for 72 years.