Lt. Colonel Edgar A. Hambleton 0-663721
LIEUTENANT
COLONEL EDGAR A. (ED) HAMBLETON WORLD WAR II AVIATOR
Member of the 312th
Bomb Group, 5th Air Force, Pacific Theater in World War II
Retired
Air Force Lt. Colonel Edgar A. Hambleton, age 86, a decorated world war
II aviator, died Sunday, May 15, 2005. Interment will follow at the I.O.O.F.
Cemetery in Norman, Oklahoma. Grandsons will serve as pallbearers. Honorary
bearers will be the 312th Bombardment Group. Services are under the direction
of Havenbrook Funeral Home of Norman, Oklahoma.Colonel
Hambleton was born on August 19, 1918, in DeQueen, Arkansas, to Ernest
A. and Josie (Rhodes) Hambleton. As a boy he grew up in the oil fields
of Oklahoma. Colonel Hambleton attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
In December 1941, after Pearl Harbor, he applied for the Army Air Corps
flight training and was accepted January 6, 1942. After receiving his flying
commission, he was assigned to the 312th Bombardment
Group.
During World War II, he named his A-20 Havoc "Je Reviens" after a book he read by the same name on the long triip overseas. Colonel Hambleton flew sixty-eight
combat missions in the A-20 Havoc in the Southwest Pacific area for which
he was awarded the air medal with clusters and other decorations. During
his military career, he served as operations staff officer in various organizations
including a troop carrier group, a NATO group in Germany and the Strategic
Air Command. He was also a graduate of the Air Force Command and Staff
School.
Following
retirement from the Air Force in 1963, he moved with his wife and four
children to Norman, where he was associated with the insurance industry
for many years. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club, past president
of the Norman Life Underwriters Association, a Chartered Life Underwriter
(CLU), member of the OU Alumni Association, member of the Retired Officers'
Association, a charter member of the O-YOU Good Sams Travel Club, driver
for Norman Meals on Wheels, and a member of McFarlin Memorial United Methodist
Church, where he was a member of the Bible Study Room 222 Sunday School
Class, Men's Prayer Breakfast, member of the choir for fifteen years, and
also has served on the church board.
Colonel Hambleton was
preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Lawrence and Charles;
and two sisters, Trixie Lucy and Martha Compton. Survivors include his
wife of fifty-six years, Mary Elizabeth Tabb Hambleton, of the home; two
sons, David Hambleton and wife, Sue, of Morrisonville, NY, and Mark Hambleton
and wife, Janet, of Tahlequah, OK; two daughters, Cheryl Weddle and husband,
Royce, and Kathleen Williams and husband, Billy, all of Norman; nine
grandchildren, Todd Hambleton, Heather Hambleton, Danny Weddle, Michael
Weddle and wife, Melinda, Dana Weddle, Travis Williams and wife, Devon,
Jason Williams, Marisa Hambleton and Matthew Hambleton; and sister, Edna
Graham, of Tulsa, OK.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Norman
Meals on Wheels, P. O. Box 1371, Norman, OK 73070 and Norman Regional
Hospital Foundation, P. O. Box 1665, Norman, Oklahoma, 73070.
