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Edward P. King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward P. King (1884 - 1958) was a Major General in the United States Army who gained prominence for leading the defense of the Bataan Peninsula in the Battle of Bataan against the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in World War II.
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He was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1884. As the grandson and nephew of Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, King had a strong desire to be a soldier. He attended the University of Georgia where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and graduated in 1902.
Initially his family wanted him to be a lawyer but this proved unfitting for King, and unhappy with his role in civilian life, he desired a more adventurous career. He applied for and received a commission in the army in 1908. He fought with distinction during World War I earning the Distinguished Service Medal. Between WWI and WWII, King held several important assignments including being an instructor in both the Army and Navy War Colleges. In 1940 he was sent to the Philippines where he was promptly promoted as Brigadier General and General Douglas MacArthur's second highest ranking ground officer after General Jonathan Wainwright.
On March 11, 1942, by orders of President Franklin Roosevelt, General MacArthur left for Australia. General Wainwright was appointed to succeed General MacArthur as General of the Armies of the Philippines while General King became the Commanding General of the Philippine-American forces on the Bataan Peninsula. At the time, King was the Commanding Officer of the artillery. After months of fighting from the invading Japanese Army and low on food, medicines, and materiel. General King was forced to surrender his troops on April 9, 1942. A combined American and Filipino force of over 70,000 were surrendered. It is the largest surrender of a military force in American history. Wainwright and his men numbering 10,000 held on to Corregidor until they too were forced to surrender on May 6.
General King spent three and half years as a captive of the Japanese and was often mistreated by Japanese because of his rank. For his defense of the Philippines, King was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
After the war he returned to the United States where he retired to a home in Georgia, devoting himself to many volunteer causes, such as the Red Cross. He died in 1958.