Frederic Ives Lord

Infobox Military Person
name= Frederic Ives Lord
lived= April 18, 1897 – July 21, 1967
placeofbirth= Columbus, Ohio
placeofdeath= Apple Valley, California


caption= circa 1918-1920
allegiance= RAF
serviceyears=
rank= Captain
battles= World War I, Russian Civil War, Mexican Revolution, Second Sino-Japanese War, Spanish Civil War, World War II
awards=Distinguished Flying Cross
laterwork=

Frederic Ives Lord (April 18, 1897 – July 21, 1967) or sometimes Frederick Ives Lord, was a Captain and a World War I ace.

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.Norman Franks; American Aces of World War I. This book uses the April 8, 1900 birth date] [Norman Franks; Dolphin and Snipe Aces of World War I; ISBN 1841763179. This book uses the April 8, 1900 birth date] [1900 US Census; Manitowoc, Wisconsin with ]

World War I

A story is told that 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, but he was already three years old in 1900, so in 1917, he would have been 20. He would have been 17 if he tried to enlist in 1914. 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 and four other pilots in the squadron became aces. On June 27, 1918 he attacked and 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 the combat and shot down a Fokker DR.I, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. [Distinguished Flying Cross citation; Supplement to the London Gazette, 2 November, 1918] [He married a woman named Mildred; See: Oakland Tribune; Oakland, California; July 25, 1937; Major Frederic I. Lord, World War ace and veteran soldier of fortune, and his wife, Mildred Lord. ... ] His final score in WW1 was 9 aircraft claimed destroyed, 3 'out of control'.

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 versts 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." [Distinguished Flying Cross Bar citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 18 November, 1919] 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. [New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; October 11, 1927 aboard the "Mayaro" with .]

panish Civil War

He flew on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War with Bert Acosta and Eddie August Schneider in the Yankee Squadron. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Meeting of the American League Against War and Fascism, 846 Seventh Avenue, 8:30 p.m. "Combat flying for the Spanish Loyalists," Major Frederic I. Lord. |url= |work= |publisher=New York Times |date=September 15, 1937 |accessdate=2007-02-19 ]

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. ... [http://www.raabcollection.com/_downloads/LibertyBell_Spring2006.pdf Raab Collection: Frederic Ives Lord auction of Spring 2006] ]

World War II

During World War II he tried to join the RAF again but was rejected, 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. [http://raabcollection.com/_downloads/catalog53.pdf Raab Collection: Frederic Ives Lord auction catalog 53] ]

Death

In 1967 he was murdered by a vagrant in Apple Valley, California.cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/lord.php |title=Frederic Ives Lord| quote=This source lists him as born on April 8, 1900 and dead in Los Angeles, California |accessdate=2007-02-16] Social Security Death Index; Social Security Number 105209061; Frederic Lord; b. 18 April, 1897; d. July 1967 92307 (Apple Valley, San Bernardino, CA)]

Action

Lord served in 7 wars and was written up in Ripley's Believe It or Not.
*World War I (1914-1918) in a Sopwith Dolphin
*Russian Civil War (1919) in an RE.8
*Mexican Revolution (1921)
*Second Sino-Japanese War (1934)
*Honduran Revolt (1936)
*Spanish Civil War (1937-1938) in a Breguet two seater in the Yankee Squadroncite book |last=Knoblaugh |first=H. Edward |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Correspondent in Spain |year=1937 |publisher=Sheed and Ward |quote=I knew Bert Acosta, Freddy Lord, Eddie Semons, Eddie Schneider, Gordon Barry [sic] and several other of the American pilots at Valencia. They were a jolly, ... | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MQkhAAAAMAAJ&q |isbn= ]
*World War II (1941-1945)

Archive

*His archive was held by the Raab Collection. There are over a hundred photographs taken during the 1917-1919 period, some showing Lord with his plane; and a typescript entitled The Pilot and the Farmer's Daughter, which is an article about a love affair he had with a French woman while stationed in France during World War I. Lord was keen to write and wrote several articles on his experiences during the many wars in which he participated. To our knowledge, none of these pieces were ever published. This manuscript, entitled So I'm a Military Prostitute, chronicles his experiences as a so-called soldier for hire (but actually a dedicated sympathizer) fighting alongside the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. Later in his life, he also approached movie production companies in the hopes that his story would be turned into a feature film.

References