b. 08/10/1890 Columbus, Ohio. d. 23/07/1973 Zurich, Switzerland.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 25/09/1918 near Billy, France.
Edward V Rickenbacker MOH
Rickenbacker was born Edward Rickenbacher in Columbus, Ohio. He was the third of eight children born to German-speaking Swiss immigrants, Lizzie (née Liesl Basler) and Wilhelm Rickenbacher. Later in life, he changed the spelling of his last name to Rickenbacker and adopted a middle name, Vernon.
As a child, Rickenbacker was accident-prone. Before entering school, he toddled into an oncoming horse-drawn streetcar and fell 12 feet (3.7 m) into an open cistern. His brother rescued him from a passing coal car twice. Once, he ran back into his burning school building to retrieve his coat and nearly paid for it with his life. Sixty years later when producing his autobiography, he found significance in these close calls. He came to believe that God had repeatedly saved him for a higher purpose.
The summer before Rickenbacker’s fourteenth birthday, his father was injured in a brawl. After being hit in the head with a level, Rickenbacker’s father was in a coma for almost six weeks before his death on August 26, 1904. His assailant was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison.
He first gained fame by becoming a racing car driver. He raced 4 times in the Indianapolis 500 with his best finish being 10th in 1914.
He enlisted in the Army in 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany. Due to his mechanical prowess, he started the war as an engineering officer and almost wasn’t allowed to become a pilot. However, once he found himself and his unit a competent replacement, he was awarded a place in the 94th Aero Squadron. Here, he would become a legend. On April 29, 1918, he shot down his first plane and earned his first DSC. Five months later, now a Captain, he commanded the squadron. The following month he recorded his final kill of his 26 official victories scored in the war, the highest record for an American pilot. His 7 Distinguished Service Crosses have never been equaled. He also was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Incredibly, he earned 5 DSCs within a month, and 2 DSCs on consecutive days.
Following the war, he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ran it until 1945 when he sold it. In 1930 an eighth DSC was upgraded by the War Department to the Medal of Honor. He was presented with the Medal by President Herbert Hoover at Bolling Field near Washington DC on November 6, 1930. He created Eastern Airlines, staying with the company until he was forced out as CEO in 1959; four years later he stepped down as chairman of the board.
In October 1942, he was aboard a B-17 bomber on a secret mission in the Pacific, when it crashed, and he and six others spent 24 days afloat on life rafts. The following year he traveled on another mission for the War Department, this time to the U.S.S.R.
The year after his death, the United States Air Force renamed Lockbourne Air Force Base in his home town of Columbus, Ohio, Rickenbacker Air Force Base. In 1992 his racing career was honored as he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. It was honored once more in 1994, with his induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. In 1995, the US Postal Service honored him as an aviation pioneer with a postage stamp in his likeness. The Rickenbacker Guitar Company chose to use that name not only because one of the founders of the company was his relative, but because he had made the name so popular.
MOH CITATION:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy near Billy, France, 25 September 1918. While on a voluntary patrol over the lines, 1st Lt. Rickenbacker attacked seven enemy planes (five type Fokker, protecting two type Halberstadt). Disregarding the odds against him, he dived on them and shot down one of the Fokkers out of control. He then attacked one of the Halberstadts and sent it down also.
BURIAL LOCATION: GREENLAWN CEMETERY, COLUMBUS, OHIO.
SECTION 58, LOT 31.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: SAN DIEGO AEROSPACE MUSEUM, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.
REPLICAS ARE HELD AT NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON DC AND AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AIR FORCE, WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO.
