Capt. William R. Edmondson - Cassville, MO USA
N 36° 40.383 W 093° 51.858
15S E 422769 N 4058951
Tree dedicated to Captain William Rothroc "Rocky" Edmondson, a Missing In Action veteran from Vietnam, planted in the American Legion Memorial Park in Cassville, Missouri
Waymark Code: WMNPA5
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/12/2015
Views: 1
The name Rocky Edmondson is well known in this area. Unfortunately he remains Missing In Action from the Vietnam conflict. William Rothroc "Rocky" Edmondson was born on 15 November 1941.
On 31 May 1966 he was the navigator aboard a C130E Hercules on a mission to drop a "specially designed weapon" on the Ham Rong Bridge in the northeast of Thanh Hoa, North Vietnam. The previous night their aircraft, call sign "Radium 1" was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the bridge. On this second attempt on the 31st, Radium 1 did not return to the base after dropping its payload. An accompanying aircraft saw a large flash on the water, but no parachutes. It is presumed that the flash was the Radium 1 going down.
In 1973 Rocky and the other 7 crew members were declared Missing In Action. For some unknown reason, the Vietnamese returned the bodies of 3 of the crew members in 1986; but Rocky was not one of them.
There is an entire park (larger than the one this tree is located in) named after Rocky Edmondson in the northeast portion of Cassville. This tree was planted in the small Memorial Park, which is adjacent to and administered by the Irwin-Easley Post #118 of the American Legion, in 1972. The complete text of the plaque at the base of the tree is:
THE FREEDOM TREE
WITH THE VISION OF UNIVERSAL FREEDOM
FOR ALL MANKIND
THIS TREE IS DEDICATED TO
CAPT. WILLIAM R. EDMONDSON
AND ALL
PRISONERS OF WAR
AND
MISSING IN ACTION
1972