Ed Kemmer of Space Patrol

Ed Kemmer

29th October 1921 - 9th November 2004

The 9th of November 2005 marks the anniversary of the death of Ed Kemmer alias Buzz Corry commander of United Planets' Space Patrol.

For those of us who believed in Space Travel before Captain Kirk first sat down on the bridge of the USS Enterprise Space Patrol, which was primarily a television program and then from September 1950 ran concurrently on ABC Radio network gave us everything later generations got from Star Trek and its clones.

Ed Kemmer took the lead role as Commander Buzz Corey and along with his companion Cadet Happy played by Lyn Osborn they traveled in to the future of high adventure in the wild reaches of space on missions of daring in the name of interplanetary justice.

During World War II he served in the USAAF and in 1944 his fighter plane was shot down over France and he spent 11 months in a German prisoner of War Camp the same one in which The Great Escape had taken place just a few months before.  It was in this prisoner of war camp that Ed Kemmer's acting career began as to pass time he and the other POW would stage plays. After the war he studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse after being introduced through the GI Bill.

Later in his career he appeared on TV in Perry Mason, Gunsmoke and Maverick and starred regularly on television soaps such as The Edge of Night, As the World Turns, All My Children and Guiding Light.  

Mr Kemmer was a very nice man, a very kind man to his legions of fans, and a winner of the Purple Heart among other medals for his service in the USAAF during World War II.

The 11th of November is Veterans Day and more significant this year as we celebrate 60 years of the end of World War II. There are many brave men who fought and lost their lives and indeed brave men who lived to tell the tales and as we remember them all lets also take a moment to remember Ed Kemmer who has given so much for his country.

For us lucky old-time-radio fans and the legacy of Ed Kemmer we can travel on in to the future! 

Happy listening my friends,