Biography
Captain Edwin Charles Novak was born to Charles J. Novak and Mary F. Mittvalsky on May 19, 1912. He grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and graduated from Washington Senior High School, where he was the senior class president. He participated in track, basketball, and journalism.
While attending Iowa State College, he was a member of the American Management Association, the Scabbard and Blade, Tau Beta Pi and the Cadet Officer's Association. In 1934, he graduted from Iowa State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. He then worked as a salesman to the Culter-Hammer Corporation in Chicago, Illinois.
Edwin entered service on June 10, 1941. He was a lieutenant in Battery A of the 45th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He transferred to the Army Air Corps and received his observers wings at Brooks Field, Texas on October 31, 1942. He attended the University of Maryland from February 16 to March 28, 1943 where he completed a course in Air Intelligence and Aerial Pilots Interpretation. He earned a diploma in Flexable Gunnery and Lyndall Field, Florida on June 23, 1942.
Edwin died at Fedala, North Africa (now Mohammedia, Morocco) on November 9, 1942. He posthumously received the Purple heart.