Collections : [Library of Virginia]

Papers, 1940-1980 and undated (bulk 1940-1950), of Lieutenant John Creegan Edmonds (1923-2002) consist of letters, 1943-1946, written from Edmonds to his future wife, Bette Kremer (1920- ), while training and serving as a U.S. Navy pilot during World War II; his flight log, December 1942-April 1946; Edmonds' ground school navigation workbook kept while at the U.S.N. Air Training Center in Pensacola, Florida, 1943; a copy of the 1943 Flight Jacket, the training center's yearbook; several training and technical manuals, including a series of six booklets produced by the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, which somewhat humorously advise trainees on the topics of "Patrol Sense," "Oxygen Sense," "Prisoner Sense," "Aleutian Sense," "Flat-hatting Sense," and "Arctic Sense"; a program from the commissioning of the U.S.S. Hancock, 15 April 1944; a small diary, 10 October-25 November [1944?] with brief notations on various bombing missions in which Edmonds participated as part of Bombing Squadron Seven, attached to the U.S.S. Hancock in the Philippines and South China Coast region; a "squadron narrative" for Bombing Squadron Seven; an undated souvenir photo of Edmonds and four fellow navy men at Club Samoa in New York City; citations marking Edmonds' receipt of two Gold Stars, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and the Air Medal for "meritorious achievement" and "heroism" in action in the Pacific; a typed transcript of a 1945 newsletter distributed on board the U.S.S. Hancock; his appointment as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve, June 1946; Edmonds' official "accident form" giving personal information to be accessed in the event of his death or serious injury; a group photograph from a 1978 reunion of U.S.S. Hancock shipmates; and other assorted papers related to his service. Also included are a handful of letters and postcards written to Bette Kremer, 1942-1945 and undated, by other individuals.