Edwin Dwight Ledbetter

1924 - 2016

Edwin Dwight Ledbetter, born on March 9, 1924 in Conway, Arkansas, passed away at his home in Placitas, New Mexico on Saturday, October 22nd. He was lovingly surrounded by his three children: Suzanne Ledbetter of Mill Valley, California; Catherine Ledbetter of Berkeley, California; John Ledbetter of Jackson, Wyoming; plus daughter-in-law Emmanuelle Martouzet Ledbetter; and his wife Beverly LaVigne Ledbetter of Placitas. He was the brother of Emily Montgomery and William Ledbetter of Conway.
Edwin came from a military family. His father, Arvor Ledbetter, and mother, Hildur Molander Ledbetter, both served in WWI, he in the Army and she as a Red Cross Nurse at Camp Perry, Ohio. Arvor and his three sons, Edwin, Arvor Jr., and Bill Ledbetter all served in WWII.
Edwin attended schools in Conway, was a B-17 pilot shot down over France on March 16, 1944. He recuperated in a Rheims, France hospital under German occupation for almost six months before being liberated by Patton's 3rd Army. Later he was awarded the Purple Heart and the European-African-Middle East Theater Ribbon with 1 Bronze Star.
After discharge he entered UC Berkeley, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He was a Harvard Law School graduate, practiced in California briefly and became a diplomat for the U.S. Department of State. During that career he served in Frankfurt, Germany; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Athens, Greece; Nicosia, Cyprus; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Soc Trang, Vietnam; Washington, D.C.; and Panama City, Panama. He retired in 1976 and enjoyed 40 years of retirement before his demise. In October 2013 he was awarded the prestigious French Legion of Honor given to him by the Fresh Consul General in San Francisco.
Fifty-three years after having crashed his B-17 he was able to return to the crash site in the small village of L'Huitre in France where he was joyously greeted by the townspeople who provided him and a crewmember with a parade, champagne and speeches of gratitude for the role they played in the liberation of France.
He was the proud grandfather of Thomas Ledbetter of Biaritz, France; Gabriela (Bia) Ledbetter of San Francisco; Jean-Dwight (Dewey) Ledbetter of Los Angeles; Ashley Graef of Mill Valley, California; and Perry Fenton of Berkeley, California.
A graveside memorial service will be held in Conway at the Oak Grove Cemetery on November 6th at 2:00 p.m. with Major Jeremy Miller, Chaplain, Arkansas Army National Guard, officiating.
Memorials may be made to your favorite Veteran's charity.