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- 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.
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Apr 29, 2020 · His 26 confirmed kills during WWI, a result of repeatedly attacking enemy aircraft alone or outnumbered, was a record that stood until the later part of WWII. 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.
During the early part of WWII, he served as the personal observer of Secretary of War Stimson in a flight over Leningrad. On his return to Washington to report on German war damage of the Russian city, his plane was followed down in the Pacific, but he survived a long ordeal on a raft and was eventually rescued.
Jun 12, 2006 · Rickenbacker had with him three St. Christopher medals and a crucifix that he had received from the young daughter of a friend before he left for Europe in World War I. He was not a Catholic and had never associated the items with good fortune.
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Edward Rickenbacher was born in Columbus, Ohio, on October 8, 1890, and spent his early life hard at work in the American Midwest. His parents, William and Elizabeth Rickenbacher, had met in Ohio, where they each had come to from Switzerland in the 1870s. They married and had eight children, one of whom died while still a baby. Their third son was ...
Life did not get easier: In 1904 Rickenbacker's father was killed on the job, and even more responsibility fell on Rickenbacker's young shoulders. He went from job to job, from a steel mill to a beer factory to a bowling alley, looking for a career that was more than a way to bring in money. He was fascinated by the newly invented automobile and de...
Rickenbacker's daring would soon be put to a greater test. In 1914, war had broken out in Europe, and Americans whose parents had recently come from European countries felt especially touched by the war. When the United States entered the war in 1917, Rickenbacker enlisted and was sent to Europe to be a driver on General John Joseph Pershing's staf...
Back in the United States after the war, Rickenbacker married a woman of society lady named Adelaide Frost and began a new life as a family man. He started the Rickenbacker Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan, to manufacture his own cars, but in 1926 the factory closed. He worked for Cadillac Motors and General Motors for short periods, then renewed...
Books
Farr, Finis. Rickenbacker's Luck: An American Life.Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979. Rickenbacker, Edward V. Rickenbacker.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1967.
Article
Halacy, Dan. "Rickenbacker: America's Ace of Aces." Boys' Life,December 1980, 38–43.
Web sites
"The Charmed Life of Eddie Rickenbacker." [Online] http://www.thehistorynet.com/AviationHistory/articles/1999/0199_text.htm (accessed April 2001). Rickenbacker, Edward V. "Fighting the Flying Circus" (online version of Rickenbacker's memoirs). War Times Journal. [Online] http://www.richthofen.com/rickenbacker/(accessed April 2001). "Rickenbacker Papers: Historical Sketch of Eddie." Auburn University Archives. [Online] http://www.lib.auburn.edu/archive/flyhy/101/eddie.htm(accessed April 2001).
During his lifetime Eddie Rickenbacker saw great changes in society and technology. He saw transportation progress from horsedrawn wagons to superhighways and supersonic jets. He witnessed the development of the telephone, the television, and the early computer. Perhaps because he saw such tremendous change, he loved to wonder and predict what chan...
Immediately following World War II, Eddie purchased new Lockheed Constellations and Eastern was the first airline to fly them. Eastern collaborated in designing its successors, the Super-Constellation and the Electra.
Sep 26, 2019 · However, unlike the other ‘Ace of Aces’ that preceded him, Rickenbacker left the war alive. He would even go on to survive 24 days at sea following a violent crash into the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Rickenbacker died of pneumonia on July 23, 1973 while on vacation in Zürich, Switzerland.
With the help of higher ranked officials, such as Major Billy Mitchell, Rickenbacker was able to get into flight school and became a pilot in the U.S. Army. Rickenbacker was assigned to the 94th Aero Squadron, the first American Squadron to see combat in WWI.
