Corporal Edwards was a member Company E, 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On 7 February 1953, near Magedon, North Korea, he placed a dynamite charge to evacuate a machine gun position. It failed to go off. He went to the site to determine the cause and it exploded killing him.

Edwards was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.