Yesterday's Southern Summer

W here the Butterfly Went - March 5th, 2015 by J.H. Edmonds The July before my sophomore year of college, I was taking summer classes and spending the weekends with my father and stepmother in Louisiana. Their two-story white house is down a gravel road that shoots off of Highway 15 in the country of Catahoula Parish in Louisiana. I would leave on a Friday afternoon and get home late, with home-cooked dinner from my stepmom, Miss Candy, waiting for me. Then I would go into the living room where my dad was tucked away in a corner on his computer, surrounded by four house dogs. I'd fall into the couch and he'd sit across the room from me in a recliner and we'd talk late into the night about college football, pocket knives, wildlife, our dogs, and the army. These were my dad's favorite topics, and we'd often stay up past midnight until my eyes started to droop and I'd head upstairs for the night. I'd wake up to breakfast Miss Candy had made for me and would fi...

A patrol from the United Nations Command Security Force - Joint Security Area in the Korean demilitarized zone near Panmunjom, South Korea - circa 1988-1990.  My dad, Al Edmonds, was a 30-year-old captain in 1988 when he became the Intelligence Officer (S2) of the United Nations Command Security Force - Joint Security Area (JSA) along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Of the many adventures he had there, one of the most peculiar stories of his time in the JSA involved tiger poop.  Following the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953, the DMZ was supposed to be an area that neither side could conduct military operations in. Naturally, both sides disregarded that. The Korean People’s Army (KPA) conducted infiltrations into the Republic of Korea (ROK), dug tunnels, and patrolled the DMZ to catch defectors and to intercept JSA patrols. The ROK & US forces of the JSA conducted patrols in the DMZ, as well. Firefights and standoffs in the DMZ were not uncommon.  So it was odd to C...

  James Alfonso Edmonds (February 16th, 1958 - July 25th, 2022) Live life with gallantry, face death without fear Words my father admonished us with one Sunday Though that idea now falls nobly on our ears We may find it daunting or impossible one day But my father spoke with deep conviction then A truth found from hard work, war, and strife I can only hope and pray that when Fear and death face me, I live a gallant life My dad was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana in 1958 to Bruce Alfonso Edmonds and to the former Mildred Anne Bynum. He was blessed to be raised among four loving siblings - Mary, David, John, and Deborah.  His childhood stories are those of an idyllic odyssey of an American boy in the Deep South. Playing army and exploring the swamps with his best friends Mark Nelson and David Cader. Shooting water moccasins from a railroad trestle. Carrying a stray litter of kittens he found in the swamp across that same railroad trestle in his t-shirt. Learning to hunt, shoot, and...

  Military Biography of James Alfonso Edmonds, Major, US Army (Retired) Hometown Hero from Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish, Louisiana February 16th, 1958 - July 25th, 2022 by J.H. Edmonds, A Proud Son James Alfonso Edmonds was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana in 1958 and grew up in Sicily Island, Louisiana. Al was commissioned into the United States Army in 1980 from Northeast Louisiana University as a second lieutenant and tactical intelligence officer. After completing Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course in Fort Huachuca, AZ, Lieutenant Al Edmonds served in the 2nd Armored Division in Fort Hood, Texas as an Intelligence Officer in the Division Tactical Command Post Support Element of the 522nd Military Intelligence Battalion, as the Assistant Intelligence Officer of 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, and finally as the Intelligence Officer of 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment.  ROTC Advanced Camp, Fort Riley, KS - 1979. ROTC Senior Picture - Northeast Louisiana Univ...