Edward Ridings was one of seven children, who was left with his aunt Miss Emma Corrine Croarkin when their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chester A. Ridings, passed away within a month of each other in 1935. He worked at the Kroger Store before and after classes at the Macon High School until he graduated in 1941. He continued to work there advancing to assistant manager and later was sent to Moberly as manager where he was when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in October 1942. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in October 1943, and arrived in England April 14, 1944, assigned as a Bombardier to the 305th Bomb Group / 366th Bomb Squadron. He was in that position on board B-17 ≠42-31880, shot down on the 27 May 1944 mission to Mannheim, Germany. He bailed out and was made a Prisoner of War, interned at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, Poland. The POWs were force-marched from there at the end of January 1945. Fellow POW 2nd Lt Virgil W. Ethridge (Bombardier on B-17 ≠43-37821), who was on the forced march with Edward Ridings, wrote “Time Out”, a 1997 privately published memoir. From parts of his story in John Nichol and Tony Rennell’s book ”The Last Escape” (Viking Penguin, USA, 2003), mentioning in their Chapter 10, that on the forced march out of Stalag Luft 3, when they had crossed the Danube south of Nuremberg : “… this was no holiday jaunt after all was made clear by the cold eyes of some towns’ inhabitants who lined up sullenly to watch the bedraggled men march through. The mood deepened further when there was a casualty to bury. Edward Ridings, with whom Ethridge had traveled ever since they left Stalag Luft III at Sagan, developed a sore throat which turned to a virulent infection. He was dead within three days.” Ethridge quote : “Six of us lined up alongside the coffin in a village churchyard and the German soldiers fired three volleys from their rifles. We each saluted as the coffin was lowered. That night we thought about those makeshift graves hacked from the ice and snow during our winter march and were thankful that our friend had at least been given a decent burial.” According to fellow crew member Thomas Stefanko in his statement in MACR 5338, the German officer in charge of their group on the march refused to spare a guard to escort Ridings to a hospital for treatment. He mentions that he was present when Ridings was buried in the small village of Niederümelsdorf on 17 April 1945.

In its 7 July 1945 issue, the Macon Chronicle-Herald wrote : "Even though it has not been officially established from the reports received in the War Department that Lt. Edward Paul Ridings died April 16 as a result of throat infection while a prisoner of war of the German government, letters received by his aunt, Miss Emma C. Croarkin leave no doubt but that he is dead. Lt. Melvin Samuel, a roommate in bombing school, writes that Paul contracted this infection on the march to Moosburg, Germany, and passed away during the night of April 16. Lt. Samuel returned to Miss Croarkin a wrist watch and a ring that he was wearing at the time of his death. Lt. Tom Stefanko, navigator on the same plane with Paul and a very close friend, said he helped him in every way possible before he died and helped to bury him April 17. He says Paul was given a Catholic funeral. Col. Darr H. Alkire in a letter to Miss Croarkin, says, "I regret that nothing could be done for your nephew but the American doctor who was present told me that it was one of those rapid infections which even in the United States is hard to combat." The local German people in a little town called Niederümelsdorf, Bavaria, with the help of the American boys, gave Paul a very impressive funeral. "I was unable to report his death until I arrived in Paris, which will explain the delay in official notification." The article mentions that, as Edward had been able to save his life by an Irving parachute, he was made a member of the Caterpillar Club, adding that recently Miss Croarkin received the Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster, signifying an additional award of the same medal, on behalf of her nephew. This reward was made for "exceptionally meritorious achievement, while participating in five separate bomber combat operations over enemy occupied Continental Europe."

Edward Ridings’ remains were brought back to the US after the war and his homecoming was reported in the 15 December 1948 issue of the Macon Chronicle-Herald :

"Funeral service for Second Lt. Edward Paul Ridings, who died April 16, 1945, of a throat infection while a prisoner of war of the Germans, will be held at 2:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at the Immaculate Conception Church. The Rev. P. J. Gillillan will officiate. The Rosary will be said at 8 o'clock tonight and Requiem High Mass will be held tomorrow morning. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery with the Albion E. Robison American Legion Post No. 29, in charge. Lt. Ridings' body had been buried in the St. Avold Cemetery east of Metz, France, and was returned to the United States aboard the Army transport Carroll Victory. The body arrived in Macon yesterday afternoon and was taken to the Stephens and Goodding Funeral Home."