Edith Munro

Military career Edith Munro spent her life as a homemaker until the age of 48 when she joined the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve after her son, who had been serving as a signalman with the United States Coast Guard, was killed in action in the Second Battle of the Matanikau in 1942. She decided by volunteering for military service she would be honoring his legacy.

In May 1943, Munro was presented with her son's Medal of Honor by President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt in a White House ceremony. She was the sponsor of two of the three United States warships named after her son, the destroyer and the cutter .

Munro did not want her son's remains to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery because she would be unable to attend to his grave. Instead they were buried at the Laurel Hill Memorial Park in Cle Elum, Washington. Following her own death, Munro was buried to the left of her son with military honors. The Munro graves have since been designated a State of Washington Historical Site and are the location of an annual observance on the anniversary of Douglas Munro's death.