Edmund Paul Billat
Edmund Paul Billat was born in Osage County, Missouri in 1878, the son of a French immigrant. He was barely 20 years old when he joined scores of young men who answered President McKinley's call to the colors during the Spanish-American War. The 20-year-old enrolled in Company A, 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry of Carthage, Missouri (a regiment of the Missouri National Guard), on May 4, 1898, and remained stateside with the regiment for a little more than nine months, mustering out of service on February 27, 1899.
The young veteran lived for many years in Jefferson City and operated the former Riverside Hotel. An active member of the Republican Party, he moved to Kansas City in 1919 where he worked in the hotel business for a year before moving to Los Angeles. Billat was married with two sons when he passed away in the state of California on December 9, 1934 and was laid to rest in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles County. A daughter preceded him in death due to injuries sustained in a car accident.