Frederic Ives Lord Frederic Ives Lord ( April 18 , 1897 – July 21 , 1967 ) or sometimes Frederick Ives Lord , was a captain , a World War I flying ace , and a soldier of fortune who fought in five wars . Early years . He was born on April 18 , 1897 in Manitowoc , Wisconsin to Alma Mueller ( 1876 - ? ) who had married a Lord . Some sources list his birth as April 8 , 1900 . He had two siblings : Lucia Lord ( 1902 - ? ) ; and Zayda Lord ( 1905 - ? ) . By 1910 he was living with his maternal grandparents : Lena ( 1856 - ? ) and Fred Mueller ( 1847 - ? ) . By 1917 Fred and his mother and siblings were living in Houston , Texas , and by 1920 his mother was a widow . World War I . According to one story , Lord enlisted in the U . S . Army in 1917 , but was discharged from the 3rd Texas Infantry when it was learned that he was only 17 years old . However , in 1917 , he would have been 20 . Whatever his reason , he went to Toronto , Canada where he joined the Royal Flying Corps . He had to renounce his American citizenship on May 25 , 1917 : I was born in the town of Manitowoc in the state of Wisconsin , one of the United States of America . . . I have come to the city of Toronto from Houston , Texas , for the express purpose of enlisting and entering the Royal Flying Corps of the Canadian Army for service overseas . And I do hereby solemnly declare my purpose and intention to become a British subject and I do hereby renounce my citizenship as a Citizen of the United States of America . . . . After completing his training in England , he joined 79 Squadron in France . Flying a Sopwith Dolphin , Lord became an ace along with four other pilots in the squadron : Francis W . Gillet , Ronald Bannerman , John McNeaney , and Edgar Taylor . On June 27 , 1918 , Lord shot down an Albatros D . V as his third kill . On his return to the airfield , he saw an allied formation engaged with several Pfalz scouts . He joined in and shot down a Fokker Dr . I , and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . He rose to the position of flight commander before being wounded in October . His final score in World War I was an observation balloon and eight aircraft claimed destroyed , three ' out of control ' . Russian civil war . He served with the RAF in Russia in 1919 , earning a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross when on June 27 , 1919 , while piloting an RE . 8 , he found the position of the enemy on the Pinega River , four verst s from Pilegori , and " attacked the moving columns from a height of 200 feet with such effect that their transport was stampeded and their expected attack broke down , without any casualties being sustained by our forces . " Mexican Revolution . Between the wars , he was a barnstormer and an adviser to the Mexican air force during the Mexican Revolution . By 1927 , he was living in New York City and was using the Chrysler Building as his address . Traveling with him was Constance E . ( 1901 - ) who was listed as his wife . By July 1937 , he was married to a woman named Mildred . Spanish Civil War . He flew on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War with Bert Acosta and Eddie August Schneider in the Yankee Squadron . I ' ve had a wing fold up at a thousand feet while sitting on a dud parachute . I ' ve been backed up against a wall looking down the rifle barrels of a firing squad . I ' ve felt the automatic of my own commanding officer poked in my ribs . While being smuggled from Spain into France to visit my wife , I ' ve had a speed boat pilot killed by Fascist bullets in the Bay of Biscay . I ' ve fought half a dozen German pursuit planes in the air with an orchestra leader as a gunner . And of all places to be during a bomb raid I was there - locked up in jail - and with my wife . And these events have not been an accumulation of my war service in France , or Russia , or Mexico , but happened during the past few months while serving as a pilot with the Government forces in Spain . . . . A Spanish pilot , Jose Galarza , bailed out from a crippled ship , during a fight , and landed safely in Franco ' s line . But the next day a Junker bomber droned over our field and dropped a box . It contained the chopped up cadaver of Jose . . . Lafayette ! Pulaski ! Rochambeau ! Who were they ? Glorious foreign volunteers who aided us in time of need . We name bridges , boats , and towns after them now . Our kids read about them in our histories . . . . And over in Spain foreign volunteers are fighting that a friendly democratic nation may survive . In most instances those volunteers came from the army of unemployed in their countries where they were without hope . In all cases they are highly skilled technical men . Their hope is a new lease on life ; but the usual reward has been a nameless grave . . . . World War II . During World War II , he tried to join the RAF again ; it is said he got so far as to be assigned to his old squadron before the authorities caught up with him . Instead , he joined the Air Transport Auxiliary that transported aircraft to England . On January 3 , 1941 he wrote his sister Lucia discussing his upcoming eye surgery : . . . and in less than a week now , I get the eye sliced up . And I know it ' ll be a success . Pray for me at 4pm on the tenth , will you . So here ' s hoping that when they take the bandages off on about the 20th , my eye will function … Ah just ain ' t got the dough for the hospital on the tenth . If can ' t get it - well , then no operation as can ' t ask the doctor to actually fork out money for me in addition . So , sister , please see what you can do in addition to the usual ten - spot , will you please ? And let me have it by Wednesday . ” [ Lord goes on to explain that he will soon be able to pay her back and will no longer be a financial burden to her because ] a group of Chinese saw me today and want to take lessons from me and will even pay for a ship as soon as the eye is okay . Private flying , govt . jobs , city and state jobs - all waiting . Death . In 1967 , he was murdered by a vagrant in Apple Valley , California . References . " American Aces of World War 1 " Harry Dempsey . Osprey Publishing , 2001 . ISBN 1 - 84176 - 375 - 6 , ISBN 978 - 1 - 84176 - 375 - 0 .