As a child, Edmund grew up at 1409 Wheeler Street in Janesville Wisconsin.  He attended Jefferson and Roosevelt Schools, and although he started high school at Janesville High School, like many other individuals of this time, Edmund did not finish high school.

    Edmund enlisted in the 32nd Tank Company of the Wisconsin National Guard during the summer of 1940.  On November 25, 1940, Edmund traveled with his tank company to Fort Knox, Kentucky.  There the company was designated A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion.  

    In January, 1941, Edmund was reassigned to Headquarters Company when the company was formed.  It was also during this training that Edmund was awarded his high school diploma from Janesville High School as a member of the Class of 1934.

    In the late summer of 1941, Edmund traveled to Louisiana with the 192nd to take part in maneuvers.  After the maneuvers were completed the battalion was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana.  There the members were gathered on a hillside and informed that their time in the regular army had been extended from one to six years.

    Edmund received a leave to go home and say his goodbyes to his friends and family.  His father did not want him to leave the night Edmund was scheduled to catch the train back to Camp Polk.  Edmund told his father that it was something he had to do. 

    Traveling by train to San Francisco, he received the necessary inoculations at Angel Island.  He was then boarded onto a transport for the Philippine Islands.  After stops at Hawaii and Guam, Edmund arrived in Manila on Thanksgiving Day, 1941.  He and the rest of the company were housed in tents between Ft. Stotsenburg and Clark Field since their barracks were unfinished. 

    At morning assembly on December 8, 1941, the battalion was informed of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  With the start of hostilities, the battalion was placed around the perimeter of Clark Field.  This was done in case the Japanese attempted to use paratroopers.

    The tankers were having lunch when planes were spotted approaching Clark Field.  At first, Edmund and the other soldiers believed that the planes were Americans.  But, when the first bombs began exploding they knew the planes were Japanese. 

    The Americans anti-aircraft guns were ineffective against high level bombers.  All Edmund could do was take cover and hope for the best.  When Japanese Zeros came in to strafe the airfield, Edmund and the other tankers fought back.

    A Company was sent north to Lingayen Gulf with the other companies of the 192nd.  The reason was that the Japanese had begun to land troops there.  The tanks were unsuccessful at reaching their objective and fell back.  This retreating and regrouping would be repeated by the Filipino and Americans for the next four months.

     Being a mechanic, Edmund's job was to keep the tanks running.  Since there were no spare parts and no hope of reinforcements, the mechanics had to recycle parts from disabled tanks.  The parts often were recovered after a battle with the Japanese.

    On April 8, 1941, Edmund and the other members of HQ Company received the news of the surrender.  Three days later, Lt. Col. Wickord attempted to get the company taken to Manila in hopes that they would be repatriated.  Instead, when the trucks stopped, they were in Mariveles. 

    It was from Mariveles that Edmund started the death march.  For Edmund and the other Prisoners of War, the heat and lack of water were unbearable.  He was fed only one meal during the march.  When he arrived at San Fernando, Edmund and the other prisoners were packed into freight cars.  They were packed in so tightly that those who died remained standing.  The prisoners disembarked the train at Capas.  The bodies of the dead fell from the cars as they did.  The surviving POWs walked the last few miles to the Camp O'Donnell.

    After spending about a month at Camp O'Donnell, Edmund was transferred to Cabanatuan Prison Camp.  Conditions there were bad, but not as bad as Camp O'Donnell.  Regardless of the conditions, Sgt. Edmund F. Van Galder died of dysentery and malaria while a POW at Cabanatuan Camp #1 on July 30, 1942.  His time of death was approximately 12:30 PM.  He was 28 years old

    At this time, the final resting place of Sgt. Edmund F. Van Galder is not known.  It is known that his remains were not returned to Janesville for burial, so the possibility exists that he rests in a mass grave at the American Military Cemetery at Manila.     

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