Dinsmore Ely

/\ 41 - Dinsmore Ely

In the 1870’s a fellow named Edwin Cole graduated from West Point and was sent out west to fight Indians.  He was there for about 30 years, then appointed to be the equivalent of head of ROTC at MIT.  Apparently, he became the faculty advisor to the new MIT chapter of LCA.  He was initiated, thereby becoming the first West Point grad to become a Lambda Chi .  He, of course, influenced the brothers of the time, most famously, Dinsmore Ely.

Brother Ely entered MIT in September 1914 and was initiated into Lambda Chi Alpha on November 13, 1914.  He majored in architecture.  He belonged to the Architectural Society of which he was vice president.  In each of his first two years he made the tug-o-war team and Tech Show.  In Lambda Chi Alpha he served as chairman of the house committee, secretary and president.  He sailed for France on June 24, 1917 and there became a member of the Lafayette Escadrille – the American Air Corps fighting in France 

Dinsmore endured several scrapes, including “Ely's plane lost power at several thousand feet and he plunged to the ground into a dense forest, miraculously escaping with only a few scratches. You can read his letter about it on the NYTimes website.

.... 

He trained at Tours, France.  Brother Ely died on Sunday, April 21, 1918 of injuries received in an aeroplane accident.  He was buried in Versailles, Cemetery of Gonards, three days later. 

 few days before the aviator's death

he wrote a letter to his father, Dr.

James 0. Ely of Winnetka, which has

just been received. The letter closes

as follows:

"If anything, should happen to me let's

have no mourning in spirit or in dress.

Like a Liberty Bond, it is an, investment.

not a loss, when a man dies for

his country. It is an honor to a family

and is that the time for weeping?

I would rather leave my family rich in

pleasant memories of my life than

numbed in sorrow at my death."

Dr. and Mrs. Ely held a funeral service

for the aviator at their cottage in

Donaldson, Wisconsin, placing his effects

in his canoe, covering all with the national

colors, and sinking it in a quiet

nook of the lake, which was the favorite

retreat of young Ely.

Professor Henry G. Pearson, of the

English Department of the Institute, is

in receipt of a communication from Dr.

Ely, in which the latter requests that

his son's life insurance policy with the

New England Life Insurance Company

be paid, and the returns devoted to the

purchase of Liberty Loan Bonds, in compliance

with Lieutenant Ely's wishes, as

expressed in another of his letters from

the front. Lieutenant Ely made this request

in order "that his Bonds might

keep on the Fight after he was gone.

His letters were collected and published in book form by A. C. McClurg of Chicago, Illinois.  The author's receipts were donated to the fatherless children of France.  Thirty-five million copies of the letter from 2nd Lieutenant Dinsmore to his father shortly before his death have been printed in the English language:  The United States Government used brother Ely's memorable words extensively to sell war bonds for the remainder of the war.

There’s a street in Winnetka, named for him, and his quote graces the war memorial in the town square.