Edgar Bolden

Edgar Bolden (June 1, 1926 – March 4, 2007) was an American fighter aircraft pilot and one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. Bolden died in Portland, Oregon in 2007 at the age of 85.

Early life and career
Bolden grew up in Arlington, Va and has one sister, Mignon B. Johnson. Bolden graduated from Armstrong High School in Washington D.C. and joined the U.S. Army. He was accepted after completing flight training in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Tuskegee Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. He served in World War II flying several missions as a fighter pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen. During one of his missions, his plane was shot down over Linz, Austria, and was held as a POW at Stalag Luft I. After the war he gained an honorable discharge from the Army Air Corps he entered the Howard University College of Engineering, earned his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering. He later taught there.

Post World War II
After graduation, he worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. and later at RCA in Princeton, New Jersey where he worked on communications satellite systems. In 1969, he moved to Washington D.C. where he eventually retired from the Federal Aviation Administration. In 1994, he moved from Washington D.C. to Portland Oregon.

Personal life
Bolden enjoyed time with his wife Mae C. Bolden. Their hobbies included playing bridge, golf, painting and watching the planes take off and land at Portland International Airport. An active Christian he attended both the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church and the Cherry Park United Methodist Church. Bolden had 10 children with first wife, Klara J. Guyton, 15 Grandchildren and nine Great Grandchildren when he died.