Initially his family wanted him to be a lawyer but he desired a more adventurous career. He applied for and received a commission in the Army in 1908. He served with distinction during World War I, earning the Distinguished Service Medal. The President on 9 July 1918 authorised awarding the Army DSM to Major King, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Principal Assistant to the Chief of Field Artillery, from 23 March 1918 to 11November 1918, Major King contributed largely to the successful solution of the difficult problems of expansion, organization, and training which then confronted the Field Artillery. Between World War I and World War II, King held several important assignments including that of instructor in both the Army and Navy War Colleges. In 1940 he was sent to the Philippines where he was promptly promoted to Brigadier General; he served as General Douglas MacArthur's second highest ranking ground officer, after General Jonathan Wainwright.
World War II
On 11 March 1942, by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, MacArthur left for Australia. Wainwright was appointed to succeed MacArthur as General of the Armies of the Philippines while King became the Commanding General of the Philippine-American forces on the Bataan Peninsula. At the time, King was the commander of the artillery. After months of fighting the invading Japanese Army and with food and medicine exhausted, King himself, accepting sole responsibility to disobey MacArthur's and Wainwright's orders, chose to surrender his troops on 9 April 1942. . A combined American and Filipino force of over 75,000 surrendered; this was the largest surrender of a military force in American history. Thousands of these soldiers would die under Japanese captivity during the ensuing Bataan Death March and imprisonment. Wainwright and his men, numbering 10,000, held on to Corregidor until they too were forced to surrender on 6 May 1942. King spent three and half years as a captive of the Japanese and was often mistreated by them because of his rank. Both Wainwright and King expected court-martial for disobeying the no-surrender order. However, they were treated as heroes when they were finally freed.
Decorations
Citation for the first award of the Distinguished-Service Medal to General King: Edgar King, brigadier general, United States Army. For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service to the government in the performance of duty of great responsibility. Brigadier General King conceived and skillfully formulated a plan for the operations in the war of the Medical Department in Hawaii, the planning of which was brilliantly justified by its success in battle. His execution of this plan on December 7th, 1941, was performed with such consummate skill to save an unprecedented proportion of wounded, elicit the admiration of the medical world, and bring distinction upon the Medical Department of the Army. Entered military service from Alabama.
Postwar
After the war, King returned to the United States where he retired to a home in Georgia, devoting himself to many volunteer causes, such as the Red Cross. He died in 1958, and is buried at the Cemetery of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church – Flat Rock, NC.
