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MAJ Mark E Cooper
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David, Edgar George, Jr., LTC.
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Contact Info
Home Town Tampa
Last Address Dawsonville, GA
Date of Passing Sep 20, 2012
Location of Interment Dawsonville City Cemetery - Dawsonville, Georgia
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Lt. Col. Edgar George David, Jr.
Lt. Col. Edgar George David, Jr., U.S. Army (ret.), lost a brave four-year battle with cancer on September 20, 2012 in the home of his daughter surrounded by the love of his family and the prayers of his friends.
Lt. Col. David was born January 13, 1929 in Tampa, Fla. to Edna Mona Anderson and Edgar George David, Sr. He was a member of the Oglethorpe Athletic Hall of Fame and President of his class for four years.
After a 20 year career in the U.S. Army, he returned to Dawson County, his childhood home, in 1974 and began his final tour of duty devoted to his community, his family and the mountain land he loved.
His roots in the Georgia Mountains are deep. His maternal great-great-great grandfather, Joseph McKee, discovered Porter Springs, one of the most historic sites in the old south, and pastored one of the oldest Methodist churches in North Georgia, McKee’s Chapel United Methodist Church. His ancestors settled in Gilmer County in the 1840’s and gradually moved east to Dawson and Lumpkin Counties. As a boy, he wandered the old growth forests on ridges and in creek valleys while occasionally living with his grandparents, Milt and Monnie Anderson. They loved him dearly and taught him to plow, hoe, shuck corn, pull fodder and to know the land that was to be his legacy. As an adult, he was never more comfortable that when he was in the woods.
Lt. Col. David is a celebrated graduate of Castle Heights Military Academy, North Georgia College, and the University of Georgia, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and lettered on the boxing team. After retiring from the military, he received a Master of Education degree in Recreation and Park Administration and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Supervision from the University of Georgia.
His 20-year military career in the United States Army included wartime tours in both Korea and Vietnam. He earned The Master Parachutist Badge, The Combat Infantryman Badge with Star, The Ranger Tab, The Air Medal, The Korean Service Medal, The Vietnam service Medal, The Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and The Vietnamese Parachutist Badge. In the Korean War he was a Heavy Mortar Platoon Leader. In Vietnam he served as both a Detachment Commander and Senior Army Advisor in the 5th Special Forces Group (the Green Berets).
He was an Airborne and Ranger Instructor at Fort Benning, Ga. when he met his wife of 48 years, Marie Alston David. Later he taught mountain and arctic survival skills in Colorado and Alaska, where he also served as the U. S. Army Communications Advisor for the state of Alaska. He returned to the “lower 48” to serve as a Professor of Military Science at Georgia Tech and Ouachita Baptist University and an instructor with the 82nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg, N.C. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1971.
After retiring, Lt. Col. David spent three years in Gainesville, Ga. where he was District Supervisor for VISTA. In 1974 he returned to his childhood home of Dawson County to serve his country from his childhood home with courage, diligence and passion.
He was a member of the Board of Education for eight years, a member of the Board of Elections and the Board of Equalization, a president of the Booster Club, a president and secretary of the Dawsonville Lions Club, a charter member of the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce and the Lake Lanier Property Owners Association, an advisor to the Dawson County Homeowners Association, a secretary-treasurer of the Dawson County Development Authority and Industrial Building Authority, and Chairman of the Dawson County Municipal Planning Commission, where he co-authored the first zoning rules and regulations for Dawson County.
He was also a founder, charter member, secretary and director of the Board of Directors of the Etowah Water and Sewer Authority, a co-founder of the Dawson County Humane Society, and was instrumental founding the Dawson County Republican Party, which both he and his wife chaired for a number of years. In recognition for his outstanding contributions to the Dawson County community, he was the inspiration and first recipient of the Dawson County Stewardship Award. Shortly after this 78th birthday he was also recognized on a statewide level when Senate Resolution 407 was passed, commending his lifetime of achievements. It was presented to him under the Capital’s dome plated in gold from the hills of Dahlonega, the first American home of his oldest maternal ancestors.
Lt. Col. David’s dedication to his country is surpassed only by his devotion to his family. He shared 48 years of marriage with the late Marie Elinor Alston David, and provided unconditional love, support, and guidance to his mother, three brothers and sisters, five daughters, nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He earned the respect of six generations of Georgians and brought honor to his country, family, community, and the State of Georgia. He was also preceded in death by his mother, Edna Anderson Noblin, father, Edgar George David, Sr., sister, Nancy Forsyth Noblin, and granddaughter, Erica Danielle Helton.
Surviving are his children, Jennifer C. David, Dawsonville; Dana and Ben LaChance, Dahlonega; Claire and Garry Sharp, Dahlonega; Melanie E. David Nelson, Dahlonega; Dorian Elise David, Dahlonega; David and Jean Carpenter, Duluth; sister and brother-in-law, Deborah and Paul Becotte, Quincy, Fla.; brother and sister-in-law, Douglas and Susan David, Wadmalow Island, S.C.; grandchildren, Chapin LaChance, Naomi LaChance, Keith Pounds, Helen Cartledge, George Cartledge, Taylor Hulsey, Mayson Hulsey, John Brian MacBeth; great-grandchildren, Aiden MacBeth, Ayla MacBeth, Klayton Cartledge, Jaxon Wade Fleeman; nieces and nephews, Grainger, Haynes and Maggie David, Alex Halimeh, Katie Odom, and Savannah Becotte.
Funeral services were held September 25, 2012 at the First Baptist Church of Dawsonville. Dr. Jim Gaines officiated. Interment followed in the Dawsonville City Cemetery with full military honors.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Dawson County Humane Society, 633 Martin Road, Dawsonville, Ga. 30534 or the George David, Jr. Junior Citizen Scholarship Fund, c/o Dawsonville Lions Charity, Inc., P. O. Box 408, Dawsonville, Ga. 30534.
Condolences may be expressed at www.beardenfuneralhome.com.
Bearden Funeral Home, Dawsonville, was in charge of the arrangements.
Description This campaign was from 25 December 1965 to 30 June 1966. United States operations after 1 July 1966 were a continuation of the earlier counteroffensive campaign. Recognizing the interdependence of political, economic, sociological, and military factors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared that American military objectives should be to cause North Vietnam to cease its control and support of the insurgency in South Vietnam and Laos, to assist South Vietnam in defeating Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam, and to assist South Vietnam in pacification extending governmental control over its territory.
North Vietnam continued to build its own forces inside South Vietnam. At first this was done by continued infiltration by sea and along the Ho Chi Minh trail and then, in early 1966, through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). U.S. air elements received permission to conduct reconnaissance bombing raids, and tactical air strikes into North Vietnam just north of the DMZ, but ground forces were denied authority to conduct reconnaissance patrols in the northern portion of the DMZ and inside North Vietnam. Confined to South Vietnamese territory U.S. ground forces fought a war of attrition against the enemy, relying for a time on body counts as one standard indicator for measuring successful progress for winning the war.
During 1966 there were eighteen major operations, the most successful of these being Operation WHITE WING (MASHER). During this operation, the 1st Cavalry Division, Korean units, and ARVN forces cleared the northern half of Binh Dinh Province on the central coast. In the process they decimated a division, later designated the North Vietnamese 3d Division. The U.S. 3d Marine Division was moved into the area of the two northern provinces and in concert with South Vietnamese Army and other Marine Corps units, conducted Operation HASTINGS against enemy infiltrators across the DMZ.
The largest sweep of 1966 took place northwest of Saigon in Operation ATTLEBORO, involving 22,000 American and South Vietnamese troops pitted against the VC 9th Division and a NVA regiment. The Allies defeated the enemy and, in what became a frequent occurrence, forced him back to his havens in Cambodia or Laos.
By 31 December 1966, U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam numbered 385,300. Enemy forces also increased substantially, so that for the same period, total enemy strength was in excess of 282,000 in addition to an estimated 80,000 political cadres. By 30 June 1967, total U.S. forces in SVN had risen to 448,800, but enemy strength had increased as well.
On 8 January U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched separate drives against two major VC strongholds in South Vietnam-in the so-called "Iron Triangle" about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. For years this area had been under development as a VC logistics base and headquarters to control enemy activity in and around Saigon. The Allies captured huge caches of rice and other foodstuffs, destroyed a mammoth system of tunnels, and seized documents of considerable intelligence value.
In February, the same U.S. forces that had cleared the "Iron Triangle", were committed with other units in the largest allied operation of the war to date, JUNCTION CITY. Over 22 U.S. and four ARVN battalions engaged the enemy, killing 2,728. After clearing this area, the Allies constructed three airfields; erected a bridge and fortified two camps in which CIDG garrisons remained as the other allied forces withdrew.
