World War I Fighter Ace Dies
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Last Years Tough For Famed Pilot
DETROIT (AP)—The body of an American World War I fighter ace—who in his last years had to battle near-poverty—will be buried Friday on Commonwealth territory, in nearby Windsor, Ont.
R. E. Dodds was a dashing young pilot for the Royal Flying Corps who shot down 11 German planes with his De Havilland bi-plane.
. . . [King] George of Great Britain honored Captain Dodds with the Distinguished Flying Cross — one of the nation's highest decorations—after a bombing raid of the German lines in France.
Last Friday, Dodds died at the age of 72 in his small boarding house room in Detroit, victim of a heart ailment. The boarding house manager said he did not know of any relative of Dodds.
His body lay unclaimed in the Wayne County Morgue for four days.
Funeral services were finally arranged by the Canadian Legion of Detroit. Burial will be at Victoria Memorial Cemetery.
A native of Buffalo, N. Y., Dodds enlisted in 1916. After training in Toronto and England, he was assigned to duty on the Western front from Dunkirk to Soissons and elsewhere. He eventually was named squadron commander.
Between the two world wars, Dodds sold cars in Detroit. A the start of World War II he became a pilot instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He became a car salesman again after 1945. After his retirement in 1957, Dodds lived on a small social security pension. He was plagued by frequent illnesses.
The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan) - Thursday, April 08, 1965
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