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A Death in Iraq

Russells’ Son-in-Law Killed in Road Attack

Story by Kathleen McFadden

This photo of John and Laura Edds was taken on March 11, 2007, the day John was deployed to Iraq. Laura is Ray and Rhonda Russell’s daughter. John was killed in a roadside attack on August 17. Jonathan Edds graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2005 and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was deployed to Iraq in March 2007. He was killed by a roadside bomb last Friday, August 17. He was 24 years old.

Tragic as those facts are, John Edds’s story becomes even more poignant when you learn about his ties to the High Country.

John was Ray and Rhonda Russell’s son-in-law. Ray Russell, of course, is the man behind Ray’s Weather Center, and John was married to Ray and Rhonda’s daughter Laura.

Local folks knew John. He worked as an intern in the Watauga County District Attorney’s office the summer between his third and fourth years at West Point. He arranged the internship in Boone so he and Laura, who had been conducting a long-distance romance, would have some months together, and the couple became engaged that summer. Laura and John were married in Boone in July 2005 and held their reception at the Broyhill.

Speaking about his lost son, Ray explained that John was an armor officer assigned to tank duty. When the two men spoke on the phone, Ray said, “The last thing I’d always tell him was, John stay in the tank.”

John Edds, a 2005 graduate of the United States Miliary Academy, was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, 2-69 Armor Battalion from Fort Benning, Ga. But he was an outstanding officer, Ray said, and was subsequently assigned to scout patrol, the most difficult assignment in the region. John changed platoons the Wednesday before his death and was on a patrol in East Baghdad in a Humvee with the captain he was replacing as platoon leader when the attack occurred.

“He was replacing a captain,” Ray said. “That’s an indication of how important the job was.” Ray continued, “John loved what he did. He was a remarkable young man.”

John was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, 2-69 Armor Battalion from Fort Benning, Ga.

Ray said that Time magazine recently profiled the West Point class of 2005, pointing out that the cadets in that class began their first year at the academy just before the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11 and graduated into a condition of war. “The Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke at the graduation of the 2005 class,” Ray said, “and told them that they would be called on immediately to do very difficult things.” According to Ray, John is the third of the ’05 graduates to be killed in combat.

John is not the only member of his family to attend West Point. His older brother Joel, who recently returned from a 16-month tour in Afghanistan, entered the academy in 2000. John followed a year later, and Josh, the youngest brother, is starting his senior year at West Point.

In addition to his brothers, John is survived by his father Barry Edds, the pastor of White Pigeon Church of Christ in White Pigeon, Mich., and his mother Julia, as well as his grandparents George and Dixie Musolff, also of White Pigeon, Mich.

Ray and Rhonda are currently in Auburn, Ala. where Laura is a second-year pharmacy student. The family attended a memorial service at the Auburn Church of Christ on Monday and will leave Saturday for New York for John’s funeral and burial at West Point Cemetery on Monday.

Laura and John attended the Auburn Church of Christ, and Ray said that the support from the congregation had been overwhelming. “They had things arranged before we even had a chance to think of what we needed,” Ray said. And it’s those little stories—like the temporary care of the couple’s dogs that the local vet is providing at no charge—that Ray mentions to show how caring and supportive people have been.

Once the notice of John’s death was posted at the Ray’s Weather Center site, Ray said, the emails of condolence and support poured in.

The family has not yet made a decision about memorial gifts.

In the statement on his website about John’s death, Ray wrote, “We loved him every bit as much as if he were our own son. His death leaves a void that can never be filled.”