Tinkham, Edward Ilsley

CITATION SERVICE DE SANTÉ
129^ème DIVISION

TINKHAM, Edward, Volontaire Américain de la S. S. Américaine N° 3

A constamment rendu par son inlassable dévouement les plus appréciables services; a pris part aux évacuations difficiles et dangereuses du 22 Juin au 2 Juillet 1916 opérées sous le feu violent de l'ennemi.

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921

Born August 3, 1893, at Radnor, Pennsylvania, Son of Julian R. and Mary M. L. Tinkham. Educated Montclair Academy and Cornell University, Class of 1916. Joined American Field Service, February 26, 1916; attached Sections Three and Four in France to November 23, 1916. Returned to America and college. Organized Cornell unit. Rejoined Field Service, March 20, 1917; attached Transport Section 526. Commandant Adjoint to September 18, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted U. S. Naval Aviation; trained Mouchic, France. Commissioned Flight Ensign, July, 1918. To Porto Corsini, Italy. Italian War Cross and U. S. Navy Cross. Died March 30, 1919, of meningitis and pneumonia, at Ravenna, Italy. Cremated at Bologna. Ashes deposited in the Muro perpetuo of the Cemetery, Ravenna, Italy.

SLENDER, with regular features, clear eyes, and a fair complexion, "Ed" Tinkham at first glance always gave one the impression of being younger than he was. Yet there was about him an air of determination and intensity of purpose which belied his youthful appearance.

He entered Cornell University in 1912 and was prominent in track athletics as a member of both the varsity track and cross-country teams. In the middle of his senior year, February, 1916, he applied for a leave of absence to join the American Field Service. The late winter and early spring of that year he spent with Section Three in Lorraine, and in June, when the Section was moved to the battle front of Verdun, he distinguished himself for bravery and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In the fall, on the departure of Section Three for the Orient, he was transferred to Section Four where he remained until late in November.

After nine months of service, and while America still held aloof, he returned to Cornell to complete his college course, and get his degree of B.S. But with his heart full of the struggle which France was making, he found it impossible to settle down to civilian life and immediately began to devote all his spare time to organizing a Cornell Unit for the Field Service. He succeeded in enrolling, by the end of March, 1917, a unit of thirty-five men which made up the first body of Cornell men to arrive in France. One of his comrades wrote of him on the trip over: "'Ed' Tinkham. is the recognized leader of the unit and whatever he says goes. No one could be more devoted to our welfare and there is something about the quiet way he handles things and looks after us that makes everyone love and respect him."

Arriving in France the latter part of April, the Cornell unit was selected as the first contingent of the camion corps just being organized, and on May 8, 1917, left for the hastily organized training camp in the forest of Dommiers near Soissons. This unit, under Tinkham's leadership, is generally conceded to be the first organized group to go to the front carrying the American Flag.

After five months on the Aisne front in the camion service, where he proved himself a wise officer and leader, he resigned from the Field Service and enlisted in the American Naval Aviation Forces just arrived in France. He was commissioned a Flight Ensign in July, 1918, and was sent to the Naval Aviation Station at Porto Corsini, Italy, where he served until the armistice, patroling the Adriatic, and in the operations against the Austrian Naval Base of Pola. He was cited for the Italian War Cross at Porto Corsini in 1918, and subsequently for the U.S. Navy Cross. Soon after the Armistice he was taken sick and was transferred to the Italian Military Hospital at Ravenna where he died of meningitis and pneumonia on March 30, 1919.

"Ed" Tinkham's military career will be for those who knew him but the natural expression of his loyal personality. He was one of the earliest from his Alma Mater to learn at first hand, months before his country entered the war, what the struggle meant, and his position in her annals is unique, The following verses from a tribute by Professor A. B. Recknagel, which appeared in the "Cornell Forester" soon after his death bear witness to the fact:

"As the first song birds of returning Spring
Bring hope and vigor after Winter's dearth,
So Tinkham with his band of Cornell youths
An earnest was of greater help to come
And of our country girding for the strife.

Consumed as with a bright fierce flame
Of patriotic fervor, he is not dead
Whom once we knew and loved.
He is translated, apotheosized
As One who also loved humanity."

Tinkham is one of the authors of Camion Letters.