EDDIE RICKENBACKER

To prove to the men of his 94th Aero Squadron that he was one of them, Lieutenant Eddie Rickenbacker took to the air alone on 25 September, 1918, over Billy, France. Spotting seven enemy planes – five Fokker D.VIIs protecting two Halberstadt CL.IIs – Rickenbacker, disregarding the odds, attacked without hesitation and fired on the enemy formation. Diving through the German planes, he downed one of the Fokkers and one of the Halberstadts and returned home. For this action he was awarded his eighth (a record) Distinguished Service Cross, and in 1931 President Herbert Hoover awarded him the Medal of Honor for this action.

By the time of America’s entry into World War I in April 1917, Rickenbacker was already a household name. Obsessed with engines, he had become a mechanic to the racing driver Lee Frayer in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup at the age of only 15. In 1910 he became a race-car driver himself, taking part in the Indianapolis 500 in 1911. Rickenbacker joined the Duesenberg brothers to develop a new Mason racing car with which he achieved national fame in 1914, becoming known as ‘Fast Eddie’ for his hard driving and his daring