BENSENVILLE, IL, US
U. S. Army
PFC, B CO, 121ST SIGNAL BN (1ST ID) APO AE 09036, KITZINGEN, GERMANY
04/23/2004, SAMARRA, IRAQ
Army Private First Class Shawn C. Edwards died April 23, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to 121st Signal Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, from Kitzingen, Germany. He was killed when his convoy vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Samarra, Iraq.
Twenty year old Shawn Edwards was from Bensenville, Illinois. He was a high school football player and wrestler and decided to enlist during his junior year. Since he enjoyed tinkering with things, his task in Iraq was setting up cellular communication networks. His father said when his son told him he planned to enlist in the military he had some of the best possible reasons to back up his decision. He told his dad, “Well, I could use the discipline, and I don’t want you to worry about my education,”
On September 26, 2010, the Illinois Governor presented Gold Star Banners to twenty-two Illinois mothers whose sons and daughters died in combat while serving their country in the Global War on Terror. One of those twenty-two remembered at this ceremony was Shawn Edwards. The last day of September has been commemorated to recognize Gold Star Mothers. President Franklin Roosevelt declared the first Gold Star Mother’s Day in 1936.
Shawn is survived by his parents, his sister, grandparents, and his aunts, other family and friends. On the evening of Monday, April 25, 2011, a crowd gathered in York Commons at York High School for Scholarship Awards night. Among the scholarships awarded was one presented by the members of the Edwards family. This memorial scholarship bears Shawn’s name.