Pilot who served at Naval Air Station (NAS) Porto Corsini for a more complete biography of this remarkable man, see the website: Roads to the Great War: Remembering a Veteran: Edward I Tinkham. SUMMARY: Edward Isley Tinkham. Student at Cornell University; early Volunteer with the American Field Service (AFC) – one of the first to support combat operations in France in WW1; Organized a Cornell unit of the AFC; trained as a Naval Aviation Pilot (#1494); served at NAS Porto Corsini flying combat missions over the Adriatic Sea. BIO: 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 but later removed to the US. After his death, his father Julian Tinkham, a successful businessman, devoted the rest of his life to seeing the United States become part of the League of Nations. NAVY CROSS CITATION: - " for distinguished and heroic service as a Seaplane Pilot in which capacity he made many flights for patrolling the sea and bombing the enemy coasts, showing at all times courage and a high spirit of duty.”