Charles P. Edwards Collection, 1942-2003 | Archives of the American Field Service and AFS Intercultural Programs

Charles Pastene Edwards, commonly referred to as “Fox,” was born on June 24, 1919, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Robert Seaver Edwards and Teresa Pastene. Edwards attended Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, and later entered Bowdoin College with the Class of 1941.

After graduation from college, Edwards worked on two projects with the American Friends Service Committee: one in Wisconsin, and the second in Mexico, where he drained malarial swamps in the tropical lowlands east of Mexico City. In June 1942 he registered with the Selective Service as a “Conscientious Objector” to war based on religious beliefs, and was authorized to become a volunteer ambulance driver with the American Field Service (AFS.) He departed from New York with AFS unit ME 26 aboard the HMS Aquitania bound for Port Tewfik, Egypt, in September 1942. During the trip, he was confined to cramped quarters in “E” Deck aboard the ship with twelve other AFS volunteers, and together they became known as the “Lucky 13.” Edwards became a member of C Platoon of 485 Company in February 1943 and was assigned to action with the British 8^th Army in the Western Desert following initial training in Lebanon and Syria. Midway through the Battle of Tunisia in April 1943 (also known as the Tunisia Campaign, which was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign), C Platoon was transferred to the 567 Company for the remainder of the war.

Edwards was temporarily transferred to the Allied Military Government (AGM) Command in Lanciano, Italy, from April to June 1944 as a Public Health and Welfare Officer. The temporary assignment in Italy led him to meet Licia Sargiacomo, whom he married in August 1944. He returned to the C Platoon with AFS and evacuated the wounded along the German Gothic Line in northern Italy until July 1945. He was repatriated back to the United States in August 1945 and received the 1939-1949 Star, the Africa Star with Eighth Army Clasp, and the Italy Star for his services during the war.

Following the war, Edwards received his doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1954. He became an educator and director of political studies at Westminster College at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania from 1955 to 1962. In 1963 he became a Foreign Service Officer for the Agency for International Development (USAID) and participated on missions to United Nations Agencies in Rome, Geneva, and New York City. His participation with AFS continued when he became a member in the Board of Directors for the Barnstable Chapter of the AFS student exchange programs (established after the war) in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Edwards also founded and became the first president for the AFS Scholarships Committee in Wilmington, Pennsylvania.