Dates

• Existence: 1904 - 1988

Biographical Note

Edgar Louis Olson (1904-1988) was a flight surgeon and hospital Commandant in the United States Air Force.

Edgar Louis Olson was born on June 11, 1904 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Ole and Anna E. (Fuhrmann) Olson. Circa 1928-1929 he began his military career as an intern physician at a United States Navy hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He briefly served as a physician aboard a troop transport ship. Olson left the Navy and began a private practice at the start of the Great Depression. However, due to the difficulty of the time, he enlisted in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant around 1932-1933. Olson was initially stationed at Fort Crook Air Force Base (now Offutt Air Force Base) in Omaha, Nebraska then transferred to Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania prior to a return to Omaha in 1934 where he worked in the dispensary.

Olson was accepted into the Aviation Medicine program and was transferred to Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas where he was certified as a Flight Surgeon. After training, he served as a Captain at Canute Air Force Base in Illnois and then was transferred to Panama in 1940. By early 1943, he had been promoted to the rank of Colonel. He briefly worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio and Parks Air Force Base in California. Olson served in the Korean War as commander of all the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH). For this service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Presidential Unit Citation from the Republic of Korea.

After the Korean War, Olson chose to return to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for family reasons. He reitred from military service in June 1957 at the rank of Colonel.

Ater his military retirement, Olson went into private practice in Winter Park, Florida. At some point, likely after his full retirement, he relocated to Thousand Oaks, California.

Olson married Virginia Elizabeth Cheuvront (1905-1983) on December 23, 1926 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The couple had three children. Edgar Louis Olson died on February 17, 1988 in Thousand Oaks, California.

Gender

• male