The Cordova daily times., 1921-09-10
RICKENBACHER RISE TO FAME
 WAS METEORIC
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H'l'' SduslIuk Nouln bl 10 NItHNltu with mallet and chisel. learning the art of monument making. physically on the job. mentally behind the steer ing wheel of racing automobile.
 That was the first job Captain Ed ward V. Rickenbacher. American ace of aces in the World war. ever held in his life. He was getting $6 week Later he gladly accepted job in a garage. It paved S4 a week
 Rickenbacher was born in little frame cottage close to the Columbus driving park. From the days when he was big enough to peer through the fence, the track fascinated him. When automobile racing started, the Driy- iu4 park was his mecca His crown ing ambition was to drive a racing au tomohile He reached his goal when he was IS years of age. At that time, he was sent to Texas by a local auto mobile concern. in whose factory he had been working. to demonstrate it's spcedsters
 From then on. his career was me troric. He became one of the best known automobile racers in the coun- try
 Rickcnbacher entered the World war as chauffeur to General Pcrshing. His rise to American ace of aces was a, sensational as the jump from the obscurity of his Columbus home to the highest pinnacle of racing fame.
 Rickcnbacher became a part of the A F. F. after series of rebutls. When the United States entered the war. he was in England buying racing cars He immediately returned to thi. country and offered his services He tried to get governmental sanction to plan of his to enlist a flying squadron from among racing drivers Of the country, but army officials turned the proffer down.
 A few weeks later Rickenbacher was on his way overseas as chauffeur 10 General Pershing A short time after arriving abroad, he was in an aviation training camp. placed there through the personal intervention of General Pershing.
 Rickenbacher bagged his first Ger man early in 1918. Within a month he had won the Croix de Guerre, and despite his delayed entrance into avia- tion. he was the second American to be given the title of ace.
 At this juncture, he met with an ac- cident that nearly ended his career as flyer.
 His ear drums were split as the re- suit of a 6,OOO-foot fall which came after a single handed fight against three German planes. The tip of one of the wings of the plane Rickenbach CT was pioting was carried away by q hostile Fokker. and he plunged to earth He was pronounced incapaci- tatcd for further service.
 The former racing driver refused to be put out of the running. and car ried his case direct to General Persh- inf The latter ruled that he still might fight.
 When he became captain. Ricken- bacher commanded the famous Hat-in- the Ring squadron. His victories con- tinued to pile up. one after the other, until he was acclaimed American ace of aces.
 Many of the medals and cups won and conferred upon RiCkenbacher dur ing his career. are packed carefully away in the little frame cottage here. but there are four things Mrs Eliza beth Rickenbacher, his mother. val ues more than anything else. They are:
 A piece of marble chisled in the shape of book and bearing the in scription Holy Bible"
 A small wooden chest,
 A silver cup. embossed with gold. the championship trophy won by Rick cnbacher in a bitter contest at Sioux City. Ia. in July 1914, when he drove a Duscnburg car to victory in a 300 mile race on a gumbo dirt track
 A citation from the French govern. ment. accompanying the award of the CroiX de Guerre
 Rickenbacher chislcd the marble book in his monument making appren- rice days. The wooden chest is me ucnto of a short time spent in the shops of a railroad here.
 His mother values them as symbolic Of the steps in her sons life.