Here’s how you become an American hero: You come from Midwest stock and are known all your life as quiet and reserved. At the age of just 25 in 1927, you become the first person to ever fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean—with virtually no navigation equipment—in a plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, described as “little more than a fuel tank with wings.” For your astonishing achievement, you are awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military award. You are Charles Lindbergh, and you are so All-American that you eventually will be played by beloved actor Jimmy Stewart in the 1957 film about your amazing flight, The Spirit of St. Louis.
And a Masonic Award, Too
For all the accolades Charles Lindbergh received after his historic flight, none meant more to him than the Masonic Riddick Award. This was a medal awarded annually by the Grand Lodge of Missouri to the local Freemason who, during the preceding twelve months, had rendered the most conspicuous constructive service to his Country, State, or Community. Those who offered the award knew Lindbergh was a devoted 32nd-degree Freemason who had worn a Masonic square and compass pin on his famous flight and that The Spirit of St. Louis had been adorned with a Masonic emblem.
Masonic Values Lindbergh Believed In
Freemasonry is not a religion, and our members come from many faiths. We believe in a Supreme Being who created the universe, but we do not engage in religious dogma or intolerance toward others. That spiritual stance fit Charles Lindbergh to a T. Though not a conventional Christian, he was fascinated by Jesus as a moral philosopher and spent an enormous amount of time reading and studying the Bible. During World War II, when Lindbergh was secretly deployed by the U.S. government to the South Pacific, space limitations permitted him to take only one book along. He chose the New Testament. If anyone had asked him, “Do you embrace the Masonic principles of Brotherly Love, Tolerance, Charity, and Truth?” his answer would have been an emphatic “Yes.”
The Best American Values, Too
As an American trailblazer who was also a Mason, Charles Lindbergh stood in a long line that included Davy Crockett, Lewis and Clark, and astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. Like them, Lindbergh stood for qualities and values that were seen as “core American,” including independence, self-reliance, courage, and perseverance. At a time (1927) when the West was won and most folks thought of “the frontier” as being past, Lindbergh showed there was another kind of frontier to explore—one involving science and technology.
Like many other great men, Charles Lindbergh came to Freemasonry before coming to greatness. It’s fair to assume that a crucial part of what uplifted Lindbergh’s tiny plane—in the largest sense—was the spiritual and ethical values its pilot had learned as a Mason.
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