Alden Davison was one of those rare and magnetic souls who secure without effort the affection of all who meet them. Few young men of his day were more versatile or adaptable. At Phillips Academy, where he passed four years, he was interested in football, track athletics, soccer, and hockey; he was a member of the Student Council, the Dramatic Club, the Debating Union; he was President of Forum and of Inquiry, and President of his class; and he received from his fellows the second largest number of votes for the man "who has done the most for the school." The ability which won him these distinctions was, of course, admired; but it was more especially his fine and upright character which made him a leader. He could be trusted always to cast his influence where it would count for good, and there was no worthy cause which did not have his support. Davison was born July 6, 1895, in New York City. After graduating from Andover in 1915, he went to Yale, but withdrew in April, 1916, in order to enter the American Ambulance Service. He was assigned to duty with the 8th section near Verdun, where he had one ambulance blown to pieces under him and was cited three times for bravery under fire. At the expiration of his six months' period of enlistment he planned to join the LaFayette Escadrille; but he was taken seriously ill with typhoid and obliged to return home. In the autumn of 1917 he had recovered sufficiently to be able to enter the aviation service, and was sent to Camp Hicks, Texas, as a cadet in the 27th Aero Squadron. There, on Wednesday, December 26, he was instantly killed. "He was flying in formation at approximately fifteen hundred feet, when he banked his machine to the left and fell into a left- hand spin, making one turn, and came out of it, but he evidently shoved his control stick too far forward, which resulted in a steep nose dive. He was then too close to the ground to right his plane before crashing." His instructor in the squadron wrote - "I would cheerfully give half my life if he were here safely to-night. He is the nearest to one of God's children I ever knew, and is mourned most deeply here, for everyone was so fond of him. He was a man's man, and nothing can be said higher in praise than that." Brief though his career was, Alden Davison richly fulfilled the promise of his schooldays. He was one " who when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought." Resolute, clear-eyed, high-minded, he made his ideals the guiding principles of his life. For him duty was something more than a word, and loyalty was naught unless it was revealed in sacrifice. "He went through life sowing love and kindness, and what he sowed he has abundantly reaped."
ALDEN DAVISON Born July 6, 1895, in New York City. Son of Henry J. and Maria Alden Davison. Educated Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, February 28, 19116; attached Section Eight until September 6, 1916. Sent to America ill with typhoid fever. September 4, 1917, entered U. S. Aviation Service. Cadet, 27th Aero Squadron, Camp Hicks, Texas. Killed December 26, 1917, in aeroplane accident. Buried Kensico Cemetery, New York. Memorial Volume of the American Field Service in France "FRIENDS OF FRANCE" 1914-1917 Alden Davison, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Davison of 875 Park Avenue, who was one of the first three Americans serving with the American Ambulance Corps in France to receive the Croix de Guerre for gallantry under fire, has been keeping his mother informed, in a series of letters, of his experiences at Verdun and other hotly contested points on the French battle line http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E04EFD61230E733A0575BC1A9649D946796D6CF STUDENT AVIATOR KILLED.; Alden Davison of This City Fell in Practice Flight in Texas. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9401E7D71E3AE433A25753C3A9649D946696D6CF http://books.google.com/books?id=a7...ok_result&ct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CDQQ6AEwCg
