Eddie Rickenbacker had an incredible life. He was a famous race car driver and raced in the Indianapolis 500. He enlisted in the Army when the US entered WWI. He was Gen. John Pershing’s personal driver until he talked him into allowing him to join the air corps. He was a natural born pilot and ended up shooting down 26 German airplanes and observation balloons in just a few months. He became famous as America’s “Ace of Aces” and was awarded the Medal of Honor. After the war, he became the president of Eastern Air Lines. In 1941, a passenger plane he was riding on crashed at an Atlanta air port. Rickenbacker regained consciousness in the morgue after he had been declared dead. An experience like that would have cured most people of flying, but not Eddie.
In late 1942, Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Army Air Force chief Hap Arnold asked the 52-year-old “Captain Eddie” to make a tour of air bases in the Pacific to evaluate units in Australia, New Guinea, and Guadalcanal. Stimson gave him a supersecret message for Gen. MacArthur which Rickenbacker had to memorize. He was to be paid $1 per day. On Oct. 20, 1942, a B-17 took off from Hawaii on a 1,800 mile trip to the little Canton Island. On board were Rickenbacker and his aide, five crewmen, and another passenger named Kaczmarczyk who was returning to his unit after a hospital stay. The plane had trouble finding the island and ended up ditching in the ocean when it ran out of gas. Although they had time to gather food and water, all of it was left on the plane when it crashed. The only food was four oranges. Luckily, Eddie had brought a 60-foot rope which they used to tie the three rafts together, otherwise it would have been impossible to stay together. Several members were badly hurt, but all survived to be adrift in three rafts, all of them crowded uncomfortably. The days were blistering hot, leading to sun burns. The salt water on their cracked skin was excruciating. The nights were bitter cold. Sharks bumped the rafts. Morale was low, so Rickenbacker insisted on prayer sessions using a Bible and hymn-singing. When the oranges ran out, they were starving until Rickenbacker managed to grab a sea gull that landed on his hat. They ate the bird raw and used the guts to bait hooks to catch fish. On the ninth day, a rain squall provided fresh water. They soaked their clothes and then wringed them out into buckets. One of the men died and two others were in terrible shape. When water and fish ran out, Rickenbacker realized the will to live was dropping. He decided to play the role of drillmaster to scold the men into living. It made him hated by some of the men, but it worked. They wanted to live long enough to see him die!
On the seventeenth day, they saw a plane, but they weren’t spotted. More planes were seen over the next couple of days, but no luck. One of the men decided to paddle away to find an island, followed later by another of the rafts. Rickenbacker was left with the two men near death. On the 24th day (Nov. 13, 1942), a plane spotted Rickenbacker’s raft and returned later to pick him and his comrades up. (The radioman was from Abbeville, La.) It turns out the first rafter had been picked up and gave directions. The other three men had been found on a deserted island. Eddie had been asea 24 days and lost 60 pounds. All the men survived. Three weeks later, Rickenbacker flew to New Guinea to meet Gen. MacArthur. He never revealed what the message was.
https://www.americanheritage.com/lost-sea-24-days
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