(October 8, 1890–July 23, 1973), was a celebrated American aviator in France during World War I. Having begun his career as an auto racer, he grew to international fame before the war. In 1917 he was sent to France as the personal chauffeur of General John J. Pershing.
Eddie Rickenbacker requested transfer to the air service. He became commanding officer of the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron, which was responsible for destroying sixty-nine enemy aircraft, the highest number shot down by any American Squadron. Eddie Rickenbacker was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for personally shooting down twenty-six enemy aircraft. He wrote his World War I experiences in the book, Fighting the Flying Circus, 1919. In recounting one of the numerous times he barely escaped death, Eddie Rickenbacker wrote:
I want to make it clear that this escape and the others were not the result of any superability or knowledge on my part. I wouldn’t be alive today if I had to depend on that. I realized then, as I headed for France on one wing, that there had to be something else. I had seen others die, brighter and more able than I. I knew there was a power. I believe in calling upon it for aid and for guidance.
I am not such an egotist as to believe that God has spared me because I am I. I believe there is work for me to do and that I am spared to do it, just as you are.3424
After the war, he worked in the auto and aircraft industries, serving as president of Eastern Airlines, 1939–63. He was the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speed-way Corporation, which holds the annual 500 mile auto race.
During World War II, he was asked to go on a special mission to inspect the Pacific air bases for Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. On October 21, 1942, his plane was shot and had to make a forced landing in the Pacific. For twenty-four days, in almost hopeless conditions, Eddie Rickenbacker and seven others drifted aimlessly on the open sea.
Succumbing to exposure and dehydration, the crew would have died had not Eddie Rickenbacker, the oldest person on the raft, continued to encourage them that they would make it. The exciting story of their survival is written in his book, Seven Came Through, 1943. Eddie Rickenbacker stated:
I pray to God every night of my life to be given the strength and power to continue my efforts to inspire in others the interest, the obligation and the responsibilities that we owe to this land for the sake of future generations—for my boys and girls—so that we can always look back when the candle of life burns low and say “Thank God I have contributed my best to the land that contributed so much to me.”3425