Edmund Jones Lilly III was born on 26 May 1928, in Colon, Panama. He attended grammar school in Detroit, Atlanta and the Philippine Islands. His family lived in Fayetteville, NC, during World War II while his father, Colonel Edmund Jones Lilly, Jr., was a Japanese Prisoner of War.

Lilly graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1944 and attended Millard, a West Point prep school, in Washington, DC, from 1944-45. He attended the Citadel from 1945-46 for a year before receiving an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1946. He graduated from West Point on 6 June 1950, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. On 7 June 1950, he married Mary Alma Russ of El Paso, TX, in the Cadet Chapel at West Point.

Second Lieutenant Lilly was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 3 September 1950.

His remains were recovered on 5 May 2003 and identified on 22 July 2003. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Medals, Awards & Badges

Silver Star Medal
Purple Heart
National Defense Service Medal
Korean Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal
Republic of Korea War Service Medalv Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Combat Infantryman Badge

Burial

Second Lieutenant Edmund Jones Lilly III is buried at Cross Creek Cemetery #2 in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, NC, in Block 11.