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.This time,they were coming closer.The first plane dived right over theraft.It came so close Eddie could see the pilot smiling andwaving.Eddie noticed the insignia on the plane; it was theU.S.Navy, and he was filled with happiness and relief.All thewhile, Eddie continued to wave like a lunatic.He wanted to Lost in the Pacific 91make sure the pilot knew they were still alive.The planes thendisappeared for a short time.Bartek kept asking, Are they coming back? Are theycoming back? Yes, they know where we are, and they are certainlycoming back, Eddie assured him.The planes returned and began circling the raft.Eddiewas not sure what the pilot s plan was.Night was fastapproaching, and it looked like a storm was building to thesouth.The pilot then shot off a couple flares over the raft andit became clear to Eddie what he was doing.He was waitingfor a boat.The pilot made a careful landing on the water, which wasfor the most part smooth.Eddie paddled the raft up to thepontoon of the plane and grabbed hold.The radioman andthe pilot helped pull Eddie close.The pilot then told Eddiethat Cherry had been picked up about 25 miles away.Thethree men in Eddie s raft were the real lucky ones, though.During the night, their raft had drifted through a chain ofislands and headed straight into open sea.Over the previous 21 days, it was hard to estimate how farthe men had drifted.Eddie figured it was somewhere between400 and 500 miles.They had drifted across the InternationalDate Line, so, according to their calendar, they were rescuedon Wednesday, November 11; according to the pilot s, it wasThursday, November 12.They were a few hours into their22nd day at sea.The plane had room for only one passenger, so Eddieassumed that Hans, being the worst off, would be taken first,and he and Bartek would wait for the boat.Eddie asked if theplane could wait for the boat to arrive, so they wouldn t bemissed in the dark.The pilot told Eddie that they would becoming along, too.Eddie looked at the cockpit and asked, Where? On the wing, the pilot replied. 92 EDDIE RICKENBACKERThe pilot and radioman secured Eddie to left wing andBartek to the right.The plane taxied along in the blackness,the propeller wash spraying Eddie s eyelids.Once on the PT boat, Eddie was given water, blankets,and food.After sitting for so long, he found walking a verydifficult task, and the rocking motion of the ocean made itdifficult to stand up without falling over.The three men weretaken to a nearby island.There they were reunited withCherry and Whittaker, DeAngelis, and Reynolds, who alsohad been rescued.The men were immediately given medicaltreatment.The next afternoon, two doctors arrived fromSamoa.They decided it was best to transfer all of the men toa better equipped hospital in Samoa, except Bartek andReynolds, who were too sick to move.On December 1, Eddie boarded a plane for Australia.Hewas determined to complete his secret mission and reportback to General Arnold, which he did.In Australia, Eddie metwith General Douglas MacArthur.He gave MacArthur theoral message that he was secretly carrying.He later made afull report to Stimson as well.Eddie later wrote, ThoughI remember every word of it to this day, I shall not repeat it.Stimson and MacArthur took it with them to the grave, andso shall I. Back at home, Eddie s family had never given up hope ofhis rescue.Adelaide was quoted by reporters as saying, Eddiewill turn up.He s too old to get lost in an airplane now. It wasAdelaide s persistence that continued the search when the restof America had written Eddie off.Newspaper articles aroundthe country had assumed Eddie was dead.One editorialcartoon in the New York Journal-American ran the headline, End of the Roaring Road? The cartoon s creator was BurrisJenkins, Jr., a friend of Eddie s.After Eddie read the headline, hetore the cartoon out of the paper and wrote, Hell, No! acrossit and sent it back to Burris.The paper reprinted the cartoonwith Eddie s commentary across it. Lost in the Pacific 93When the news spread of Eddie s rescue, newspapers hailedhis survival record, assigning him names such as Iron-manEddie, That Indestructible Man of Aviation, and The ManWho Always Comes Back. Eddie was finally reunited with hisfamily in Washington on December 19, 1942, at 9:00 in themorning.As Eddie came down the steps of the plane, he sawAdelaide, Dave, and Bill waiting for him.Bill broke throughthe group and ran to his father.Throwing his arms aroundhim he cried, Oh, Daddy, I m so happy to see you again. Eddie was speechless. 8TheLater Yearsut of the suffering of eight men lost at sea came some crucialchanges that benefited America and the world.First, ferryingOoperations in the South Pacific improved.And even before Eddiecould turn in his recommendations to Stimson, many other improve-ments had already taken effect.Included in Eddie s recommendationswere the importance of keeping proper logs and of making enhance-ments in radio and other forms of communication.Naturally, an item of concern was the life rafts in which themen stayed for 22 days.Bill Cherry was ordered to Washingtonto help in redesigning rafts and survival equipment.First andforemost, the rafts were made wider and longer.Each raft wasthen supplied with a sheet of material that could be used as asail, as protection against the sun, and as a rain catcher.A sealed,watertight box of emergency supplies and equipment accompa-nied every raft.Included in the box were liquids, concentrated94 The Later Years 95food, vitamins, sedatives, knife, first-aid kit, rubber patchesand waterproof glue, flares and pistols, and fishing tackleand bait.The air force demonstrated the new rafts to Eddie.Theraft Eddie reviewed was equipped with a radio and chemicalEddie published the story of his days lost at sea first in Life magazine,and then as a book called Seven Came Through.He donatedthe profits to the Air Force Aid Society started by Hap Arnoldand his wife. 96 EDDIE RICKENBACKERwater distillers that could desalinate the sea water at one anda half quarts a day.After inspecting the raft, Eddie affirmedthat he could live for three months on a raft such as this andcome back in good condition.The air force appropriatelynamed the rafts Rickenbackers. After Eddie s incident on the Pacific, Hap Arnold and hiswife decided to establish an Air Force Aid Society to helpwidows and children of airmen killed in action.Initially,Mrs.Arnold was not successful in raising much money.How-ever, not long after Eddie s rescue, he began receiving offersfrom newspapers, magazines, and book publishers for hisstory of the Pacific ordeal.When he heard about the Air ForceAid Society, he decided to sell his story to the highest bidderand donate the money to the society.In New York, Eddie metwith Time and Life.He accepted a bid from Life of $25,000.The story was set to run in three issues, becoming Life s firstserial.The issue would also include a full-page ad devoted tothe Air Force Aid Society
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