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Sheila Rae Myers, HM3
to remember
Edel, William Wilcox, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Baltimore, MD
Last Address El Cajon, CA
Date of Passing Sep 16, 1996
Location of Interment Westminister Cemetery - Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Wall/Plot Coordinates F 365 2
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA) - Saturday, September 28, 1996
William Wilcox Edel, 102, a former president of Dickinson College, died Sept. 16 at his home in El Cajon, Calif.
The Methodist minister and Dickinson College graduate was a Navy chaplain during both World Wars. He served as the college's president from 1946 to 1959.
He designed a three-way altar used as a liturgical backdrop for religious services and the Mariner's Cross, from which the present-day Navy Chaplain Corps emblem was adapted. He wrote an autobiography, "My Hundred Years," which earned a San Diego Book Award.
Other Comments:
Navy Commendation Ribbon
The Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, takes pleasure in commending Captian William W Edel, Chaplains Corp, United States Navy for service as set forth in the following citation:
For meritorious and effiecient performance of duty as Force Chaplain on the Staff of the Commander South Pacific Area and Force from 19 January to 27 September 1945. During this period Captain Edel displayed outstanding ability and worked tirelessly in ministering to the spiritual needs of the personnel throughout the area, and in the redeployment of chaplains to forward combat areas. Through his initiative and constant attention to the welfare of the officers and men, he aided materially in maintaining the excellent morale of the forces in the South Pacific. His exemplary leadership was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Uniited States Naval Service.
Commendation Ribbon authorized.
C W Nimitz
Fleet Admiral, U S Navy
Letter of Commendation
The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending Captain William w Edel, Chaplains Corps, United States Navy for service as set forth in the following citation:
For meritorious service as a chaplain in a career spanning most of the time of our nation's participation in two world wars from June 1917 to October 1946. Captain Edel made distinctive contributions that enhanced the work of the Chaplains Corps. He designed the Mariner's Cross which consists of a mariner's compass surcharged with a golden cross, an emblem which was used since 1940 in many chaples and became incorporated into the Chaplain Corps emblem. Captain Edel devised the first three-way altar, a unique arrangement whereby three separate altars mounted a revolving vertical axis permitted more efficient multiple use chapels and was largely responsible for the construction of the chapels at Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia, and the Cathedral of the Air at Lakehurst, New Jersey. He displayed exceptional artistic ability in the designing of promotional and worship materials. Dedicated to an ecumenical ministry, Captain Edel, on World Communion Day in 1944, officiated at a service with over 7,500 persons in attendance and which involved thrity-eight clergy of many denominations, both military and civilian. From 1924 to 1944, he served voluntarily as the Chaplain Corps Historian, during which time his articles appeared in several religious and secular publications, including the Naval Institute Proceedings, and his texts were used at the Naval Chaplains School. Captain Edel's distinctive accomplishments, compassionate demeanor, and unfaltering devotion to duty reflected credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
John L Sullivan
Secretary of the Navy
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.
