Remains of Marion WWII pilot finally at rest
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The remains of World War II pilot, Lieutenant Kenneth Ambrose, 24, have been properly buried in a national cemetery in central Pennsylvania, more than 63 years after his death.
Ambrose was born in Marion and later moved to Lincolnville with his mother, Dolly, when she married Frank "Fuzzy" Gilbert. He graduated from Lincolnville High School in 1936.
He was a fighter pilot in the war. He and another pilot became heroes after winning two P-38 victories against Japanese war planes over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Ambrose's plane became missing in Washington state while he was on his way to California to visit his wife, Marguerite, and eight-week-old daughter, Kathleen.
It wasn't until almost 55 years later when the wreckage of his plane was found by two hikers in September 1997 on Mount Baker.
In the summer of 2004, some of his bones were recovered from the site but, according to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, they were not positively identified until after intensive DNA tests.
Kathleen Edwards, now living in Pennsylvania, received formal notice early this spring of her father's identification.
She and her mother, Marguerite, had been told about the recovery soon after it happened and Kathleen had felt sure then that it was her father.
Kathleen said her mother seldom mentioned her father. Marguerite was an opera singer but never sang again after her husband disappeared. She eventually moved to Pennsylvania with her daughter and family and died earlier this year.
Several civilians who were involved in solving the mystery of Ambrose's disappearance attended the memorial service. Kathleen said she was moved by their kindness and dedication to his recovery.
Though she never knew her father, the service touched her.
"I wept at Taps," she said, "and I cried again when they gave me his flag."
The complete life story of Kenneth Ambrose, "Missing In Action," is found in the Oct. 23, 2003, issue of Marion County Record.
