EDWARD V. "EDDIE" RICKENBACKER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED Christmas 1944, PLUS 2nd LT

Description

EDWARD V. "EDDIE" RICKENBACKER - TYPED LETTER, SIGNED Christmas 1944, PLUS ORIGINAL “Shangri-La” LETTER, 1942, not signed.
Pre-Owned
0.00
or Best Offer
1
st
letter -
Christmas 1944.
Signed. Not with original envelope.
Addressed to “My dear Pep.”
On letterhead of Rickenbacker.
2nd letter
-  C
hristmas 1942. With original envelope, addressed to “Major H. L.Plummer”,and  inside “My dear Pep”. On Rickenbacker letterhead.
Before Eddie set out on a trip across the Pacific(Oct. 21, 1942) he dictated his Christmas Letter to friends to his secretary (Oct.17 1942) because he was going to be gone overseas on a war assignment.
The plane crashed.
His secretary mailed these on Dec. 17
1942.
The letter is not signed, but simply says at the end – Sincerely, “In Shangri-La” (No signature possible).
My grandmother, Lorine Plummer (wife of the man to whom these letters are addressed, Harold Lane Plummer, called “Pep”), said it is called the Shangri-La letter, in reference to Eddie’s going down in a plane crash, similar to the 1933 novel by James Hilton, Lost Horizon, popular at the time (after crashing in a plane in the Himalayas, the passengers find“Shangri-La” where no one ages).
This letter is not signed. On letterhead of Rickenbacker.
·
* * *
Captain Edward Vernon Rickenbacker had gained fame as a daring race car driver before becoming the United States’ top-scoring fighter ace of World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. After the war he delved first into the automobile industryand then wound his way back to aviation, eventually becoming president of Eastern Air Lines. Rickenbacker was a strong voice for aviation, on several occasions testifying before congressional committees about actions he felt would be detrimental to both military and civilian aviation.
In late 1942 Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Army Air Forces chief of staff General Henry H. ‘Hap’ Arnold asked the 52-year-old airline executive to travel to the Pacific theater as a -a-day nonmilitary observer. His mission was to evaluate and report on the status of U.S. Army Air Forces combat units stationed there. His itinerary included visits to Australia, New Guinea and Guadalcanal.
They finally took off from the U.S.  at 1:30 a.m. on October 21, bound for island ‘X’ (so designated for security reasons; actually Canton Island), about 1,800 miles to the southwest.
An hour before the estimated arrival time, Captain Cherry throttled back, slowly descended to about 1,000 feet and began looking for Canton Island. It never came into view.