Va. Marine Won Loyalty of Peers, Iraqi Brigade
By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 19, 2005; Page B03
Capt. James C. Edge, 31, died after small-arms fire in Ramadi.
James C. Edge didn't have to join the military, his father said.
He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1996 with a degree in international studies and could easily have become a teacher.
If he insisted on joining the military, it didn't have to be the Marines, said his father, also named James, who had been in the Navy and considered it safer.
And if he was going to join the Marines, he could have chosen something safer than the infantry.
But the Virginia Beach native, called Jamie by his family, chose his own path, his father said, becoming a captain and serving two tours of duty in Iraq as an infantry officer.
"He wanted to be a part of it, one who made decisions," his father said from his home in North Carolina. "He was an action guy, and he didn't want to be in the back row, wondering what was going on in the front."
Edge was killed Thursday by small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq.
Edge, 31, was married and had two daughters, ages 7 and 3. His wife, Krissy, as well his mother, Janice T. Whorton, and two brothers, prepared a statement on his death, read yesterday by brother Thomas.
"He was a loving husband and father, devoted son and brother," the statement read in part. "He was the best of the best our country had to offer. We need to remember his sacrifice and honor his memory. He was known and loved by many people here in the Hampton Roads. He leaves a legacy of fierce love of God and country, the corps and family. His commitment to these was evident in how he lived his life."
Edge was utterly devoted to his daughters, spending every minute of leave time with them, his father said. "He was three times the father I was," he added.
Edge graduated from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach in 1992 and then went to VMI. As a senior, he served as executive officer of one of nine companies of cadets. He was also a member of the Rat Disciplinary Committee, a student group devoted to inculcating freshmen into military life. Cadets are chosen for the committee by their peers, and it is considered a high honor, a VMI spokesman said.
He spent his first tour with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment near Fallujah on the front lines of an attempt to take the city from insurgents.
In the wake of the assault, Edge, known as a commanding and eloquent officer, was chosen by senior leaders to train Iraqi civil defense forces to take over the restive city from Marines. At the conclusion of the first day of training, he gave Iraqi troops a pep talk. "We want the same thing as you -- that order is restored in Fallujah," he told them. "That way, you can go home to your families, and we can do the same thing."
The force was later replaced by the so-called Fallujah Brigade, composed of former members of the Iraqi military.
While it lasted, however, Edge's work earned him the nickname "Lawrence of Arabia," a reference to the Englishman who won the loyalty of Arabs while training them to fight on the Allied side in World War I.
Staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who reported from Fallujah last year, and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company