Caption:  Then photo shows “Whiskey” and “Soda,” the two lion cub mascots of the Lafayette Escadrille.  The now photo shows “Whiskey” and “Soda,” the webmasters two cats when they were kittens.

Rededication of the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, Wednesday April 20, 2016

This is a reminder that eleven days from now, the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial in Marnes-la-Coquette (near Paris) will be rededicated in a “Head-of-State” event.  Readers who find themselves in the area might want to attend in person.

The rededication ceremony will be recorded by the Armed Forces Network Europe, but it will not be live-streamed.  Readers wishing to view the ceremony can watch it at:  http://www.afneurope.net/.

Background

A significant subset of American volunteers who signed up in the French armed forces joined the Aéronautiqe Militaire and ended up in the “Escadrille Lafayette,” a single French squadron consisting of the American pilots with a French CO, or in the “Lafayette Flying Corps.”  Pilots in the latter unit were farmed out to various French squadrons.

For Further Information

The World War 1 Centennial Commission’s website has various articles about the rededication, the pilots and their actions.  Readers can find more information here:  http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about-the-lafayette-escadrille.html.

For those who want to dig deeper, historian Dennis Gordon of Missoula, Montana has published two excellent books.  They are:

“Lafayette Escadrille Pilot Biographies.”  Doughboy Historical Society, Missoula, Montana, 1991.

“The Lafayette Flying Corps:  The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War I.”  Schiffer Publishing, Shippensburg, PA, 2000.

About http://meuseargonnerg.wpengine.com

This website is maintained by Randal Gaulke, a long-time student of WW1 and a frequent Western Front visitor.  It focuses primarily on the late-war German-American offensive and secondarily on other events in the Meuse-Argonne Region; with an emphasis on helping visitors explore the region.  Those interested are encouraged to sign-up for the blog section of the Website.

Randal also has started a public Facebook group with the name Meuse-Argonne.com.

#AIRHISTORY, #WW1, #WW1ARMY