Whan, Edgar William, 1920-2013

Edgar Whan was born in November, 1920 in Billings, Montana and earned an AB from Eastern Michigan University in 1942. He took an intensive Japanese language course in the summer of 1942 at the University of Michigan and entered the Japanese Language School in the fall of 1942. He married Shirley Westrick in February 1943 and reported to JICPOA on December 1, 1943. At JICPOA, he was assigned to a division which catalogued and evaluated captured Japanese maps and charts, he translated top secret notices to mariners and interrogated POWs. On February 10, 1945, he reported to the Tenth Army for detached duty. He later I served as a liaison officer on the Winged Arrow on its way to deliver 1500 native Okinawan workers to Pearl Harbor. After the war, he was assigned to a series of positions in the occupation commands and earned a Ph. D. in English from the University of Michigan. He teaches at Ohio University.