The 32-year-old Edwards is the father of four children, ages 6 to 12. His wife, Esther, nominated her husband, and cited videos the soldier made for his children while deployed in Iraq.
/ fatherhood.org
FORT JACKSON, SC (WACH, AP) - An Army father based at South Carolina's Fort Jackson has been selected as the recipient of the 2012 Military Fatherhood Award by the Fatherhood Initiative.
According to officials, 1st Lt. William Edwards, who is assigned to Company E, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, was voted the winner over 450 men originally nominated for the award after being named one of the three finalists presented to voters on the National Fatherhood Initiative's Facebook page.
“It’s awesome,” Edwards said. “It’s shocking. I’m surprised that I won. The other two guys are great fathers, and everyone had a great story.”
Wallace McBride with Fort Jackson Public Affairs reports Edwards will be presented with the award in a ceremony scheduled to take place at Fort Jackson the week of Father's Day, which is June 17, according to .
“My kids are really excited about all the support we’ve had on Facebook,” Edwards said.
The 32-year-old Edwards is the father of four children, ages 6 to 12. His wife, Esther, nominated her husband, and cited videos the soldier made for his children while deployed in Iraq.
“Some dads will read stories on video before they leave so they’ll have those while their gone,” his wife, Esther, said. “He did that, and sang songs for them. That became a cherished video for them that they’d watch every night. While he was out there, he took it a step further and made a video called, ‘The Day with Daddy.’ It was from sunup to sundown, what his day was like in Iraq.”
William told McBride he tried to capture his regular daily activities, from the mundane, such as brushing his teeth in the morning, to the adventurous.
After capturing his day on video, he added special effects and music just to make sure his children were entertained.
“I carried a camera with me everywhere I went, just so they would get an idea that I was with them,” said Edwards.
Esther Williams says her husband plays in a band with his children, dresses up in superhero costumes with them and is not afraid to get silly with them.
The band, Eddie's Experiment, might be playing in front on an audience this summer.
“We’re in talks right now,” said Edwards. “It would be sometime in June, but there’s no official date. It’s for a festival in the Columbia area.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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