Edwin Andrews

THE GREATS OF THE PHILIPPINE AIR ARM: COLONEL EDWIN DB ANDREWS GREATS OF THE PHILIPPINE AIR ARM: COLONEL EDWIN DB ANDREWS... COLONEL ANDREWS was born on 27 September 1905 in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija... He was the only child of Edwin Dudley Andrews, an American and his Filipina wife, Victoria Arnedo Buencamino... After his graduation from the American Central High School in 1926, he was appointed cadet in the Philippine Constabulary Academy (later Philippine Military Academy) where he graduated in 1928 and was commissioned Third Lieutenant in the Regular Force... He was subsequently sent to the United States to specialize in Ballistic and Handwriting identification at the Treasury Department in Washington DC, graduated in 1931 and returned to the Philippines afterwards... In 1936, he took up flying lessons as a Student Officer at the Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC) Flying School... Qualifying as a military aviator in 1937, he served with the training staff of the PAAC Flying School as an Instructor Pilot... On 15 August 1941 he became the Commanding Officer of Zablan Field, Camp Murphy (now Camp Aguinaldo)... On 11 September 1941, then 1L T ANDREWS was accelerated to the rank of Major without passing through the rank of Captain... During the mobilization of the PAAC to Bataan caught MAJOR ANDREWS in Mindanao and he was unable to join the PAAC until the fall of Bataan... In Mindanao, ANDREWS joined the Moro Guerilla Unit of COLONEL SALIPADA PENDATUN, later the unit was organized into a Regiment under the American Commander, LTC WENDELL FERTIG... After serving a year with this unit, ANDREWS went to Negros and served with the Allied Intelligence Bureau operating throughout Luzon and the Visayas islands... He immediately rose to become the head of the Bureau where he supervised the gathering of valuable information on enemy locations sent it to General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area by radio and submarine until the liberation of the Philippines in 1944-45... While serving as an Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of National Defense, he was sent to the United States to take Senior Officer’s Course in Florida and Command Studies at the Army Air Force Training Command at Fort Worth in Texas... In preparation to the granting of Philippine Independence, ANDREWS was appointed Chief of the Air Force in the later part of 1945, relieving COLONEL JOHN P RYAN... He thus became the Filipino after the Second World War to be designated commander Philippines’ Air Arm... As Chief of the Air Force, he was responsible for its organization in the post-independence reconstruction period... He worked for the expansion and modernization of the old PAAC into a functioning indigenous air defense arm of the newly independent Philippines... He met his untimely death while on a mission to Mindanao when his C-47 transport plane “Lili Marlene” crashed on Mount Makaturing, Lanao on 18 May 1947... During his fatal accident, the exact location of the crash site was not pin-pointed which in truth “Lili Marlene’s” flight was not monitored... COLONEL ANDREWS left Manila on 16 May 1947 to accompany the officials of the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) who had been tasked by then President Roxas to inspect the resettlement projects in Mindanao... NLSA Director Rafael R Alunan, pre-war Secretary of Agriculture, headed the government party that included Judge Francisco Zulueta of the Court of Industrial Relations... Aside from COLONEL ANDREWS, Secretary Alunan and Judge Zulueta, 14 other passengers were also with the ill-fated flight... Before COLONEL ANDREWS left Manila, he told his wife that he would be back on 18 May 1947... As the hours dragged on, a worried Mrs Andrews called up Headquarters, PAF inquiring on the whereabouts of his husband and second call from President Roxas begun the search and rescue operations... In one of the most massive search operations in the country’s history, the PAF threw all available aircraft, particularly C-47 Gooney Bird fleet into the fray... Philippine Airlines (PAL) joined the operation with the famous COLONEL “PAPPY” GUNN, the Airlines’ vice-president placed 20 of its planes at the disposal of MAJOR EUSTACIO D OROBIA, Chief of the Rescue Operations... American air units from the 13th Air Force dispatched two (2) B-17s while the US Navy sent two (2) PBY Catalinas... At the height of the operation more than 30 planes were involved in the search... OROBIA made Lahug field in Cebu the base of operations... Four days after the accident, PAL pilot Oscar B Ramos sighted a wreckage at the densely covered slopes of Mount Kitanglad near Malaybalay, Bukidnon... A foot patrol sent to the location discovered the wreck to be of Second World War origin... Then exactly a week after it crashed, the burned remains of the “Lili Marlene” were finally spotted by LIEUTENANT ANTONIO EVANGELISTA... Five of the 34 planes that participated in the search effort that day, positively identified the wreckage... Only the aircraft’s tail, showing the identifying number 1002 was left intact... The military immediately sent a considerable force to compose the foot expedition to retrieve the victim’s remains, led by Muslim officers CAPTAIN MALAMIT UMPA, CAPTAIN MAMARINTO LA O, CAPTAIN MAMA MAGUMPARA and LIEUTENANT MUSOR GURO... The force climbed up the 75 degree slopes of unchartered wilderness they encountered wild elements of the Mandayan tribe and home to a number of Japanese stragglers... Before the search the military wiped out a group of Japanese stragglers turned cannibals in the general location of the crash... The said stragglers were caught in the act of cooking a Filipina they murdered and most of the Japanese were killed... The charred and unrecognizable remains of the “Lili Marlene” fatalities were brought to Manila on 30 May 1947 but more remains were brought in later... The crash of the “Lil Marlene” was a powerful lesson for the Philippine Air Arm... Shortly after the accident, the Air Force now put into place strict monitoring of all its flights... With the death of Andrews, MAJOR PELAGIO A CRUZ at the age of 35 became Chief of the Air force... He was honored by having the PAF’s major Air Base in Mindanao named after him... COLONEL ANDREWS is survived by his wife, Mrs Leonor Cu Unjieng Andrews, with whom he has four children; Anthony, John, Victoria and Maria Lourdes... JOHN C ANDREWS later followed his father’s footsteps and joined the Air Force as a former Aviation Cadet of PAFFS/PAFACES class of 1960 became a fighter pilot...

Immigration to Seattle, Washington, United States (1929)

1930 United States census

Marriage certificate