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May 29, 2022 · On April 29th, Rickenbacker scored his first aerial victory and also his first Distinguished Service Cross for a vigorous fight and pursuit of a plane into enemy territory to shoot it down.
- James Elphick
Sep 25, 2024 · Rickenbacker was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with seven bronze oak leaf clusters (eight awards). France named him a Chevalier de la légion d’honneur and twice awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm.
- Auto Racing
- World War I
- Fighting to Fly
- To The Front
- Postwar
- World War II
- Post-War
A successful driver, he earned the nickname "Fast Eddie" and participated in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911 when he relieved Lee Frayer. Rickenbacker returned to the race in 1912, 1914, 1915, and 1916 as a driver. His best and only finish was placing 10th in 1914, with his car breaking down in the other years. Among his achievements was set...
Intensely patriotic, Rickenbacker immediately volunteered for service upon the United States' entry into World War I. After having his offer to form a fighter squadron of race car drivers refused, he was recruited by Major Lewis Burgess to be the personal driver for the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, General John J. Pershing. It was...
Though considered old (he was 27) for flight training, Mitchell arranged for him to be sent to flight school at Issoudun. Moving through the course of instruction, Rickenbacker was commissioned as a first lieutenant on October 11, 1917. Upon completion of training, he was retained at the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun as an engineering...
Flying his first mission on April 6, 1918, in company with veteran Major Lufbery, Rickenbacker would go on to log over 300 combat hours in the air. During this early period, the 94th occasionally encountered the famed "Flying Circus" of the "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen. On April 26, while flying a Nieuport 28, Rickenbacker scored his first v...
Settling into postwar life, Rickenbacker married Adelaide Frost in 1922. The couple soon adopted two children, David (1925) and William (1928). That same year, he started Rickenbacker Motors with Byron F. Everitt, Harry Cunningham, and Walter Flanders as partners. Using the 94th's "Hat in the Ring" insignia to market its cars, Rickenbacker Motors s...
With the outbreak of World War II, Rickenbacker volunteered his services to the government. At the request of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, Rickenbacker visited various Allied bases in Europe to assess their operations. Impressed by his findings, Stimson dispatched him to the Pacific on a similar tour as well as to deliver a secret message to ...
With the war concluded, Rickenbacker returned to Eastern. He remained in charge of the company until its position began to erode due to subsidies to other airlines and a reluctance to acquire jet aircraft. On October 1, 1959, Rickenbacker was forced from his position as CEO and replaced by Malcolm A. MacIntyre. Though deposed from his former positi...
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the region of Villecy, France, September 14, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker attacked four Fokker enemy planes at an altitude of 3,000 meters.
Sep 25, 2024 · Eddie Rickenbacker, the top American ace of World War I with 26 kills, earned the Medal of Honor for his actions on this day 105 years ago, when he attacked seven German planes, shooting down two of them. Originally a Distinguished Service Cross, the award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in 1930.
Apr 28, 2022 · With 26 aerial victories, Eddie Rickenbacker survived the war as America's "Ace of Aces." The former race car driver's 7 awards of the Distinguished Service Cross (an eighth was upgraded to the Medal of Honor) is unprecedented and unmatched in US Military History.
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Apr 29, 2020 · He received the Congressional Medal of Honor and a record eight Distinguished Service Crosses, as well as the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre by France. Few among us are capable of becoming a race car driver or fighter pilot. He was both. But his heroism extended beyond his military service.
