Edgar is another soul who was suffering from the war. He is the unfortunate high school teacher and slightly older-than-average soldier who ends up getting shot at the end of the war for stealing a teapot from the rubble of Dresden. He is tried and executed by a German firing squad, and Billy is among the group of POWs who have to dig his grave. Referred to consistently as "poor Edgar Derby" or "poor old Edgar Derby," Derby is a forty-four-year-old who had to pull strings to be allowed to fight.
Edgar Derby in the Essays
Author: Erica Morris