Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker wearing the Medal of Honor. (U.S. Army Air Force photo)
Nickname(s)	Eddie Fast Eddie Rick
Born	(1890-10-08)October 8, 1890 Columbus, Ohio
Died	July 23, 1973(1973-07-23) (aged 82) Zürich, Switzerland
Place of burial	Green Lawn Cemetery Columbus, Ohio
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	Air Service, United States Army
Years of service	1917–1919
Rank	Captain
Commands held	94th Aero Squadron
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor Legion of Honor (France) Croix de Guerre (France)
Other work	Championship racing driver Rickenbacker car company Indianapolis Motor Speedway Eastern Air Lines

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was America's most successful fighter ace in the war. He was also considered to have won the most awards for valor by an American during the war according to the April 2017 VFW magazine in their special World War I edition.

He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the longtime head of Eastern Air Lines.

Edward Rickenbacker was born in Columbus, Ohio, to Swiss German-speaking immigrants. From childhood, he loved machines and experimented with them, encouraged by his father's words: "A machine has to have a purpose".

In what was to become one of the defining characteristics of Rickenbacker's life, he nearly died many times in events ranging from an early run-in with a horse-drawn carriage, to a botched tonsillectomy, to airplane crashes. His first life-threatening experience occurred when he was in the "Horsehead Gang". He lived near a mine, and they decided to ride a cart down the slope. It tipped over and almost crushed them.

According to Rickenbacker's autobiography, at age thirteen, his schooling ended in grade seven after the accidental death of his father on August 26, 1904. However, according to Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century, by W. David Lewis, his father died after an altercation with another man in Columbus. Rickenbacker found jobs to help support the family, but driven by an intense admiration for machines, Rickenbacker taught himself as much as he could, including enrolling in a correspondence course in engineering. He aggressively pursued any chance of involvement with automobiles. Rickenbacker went to work at the Columbus Buggy Company, eventually becoming a salesman, working in both Dallas, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona.