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Before today was Veterans Day it was Armistice Day, marking the end of WWI. We don’t learn much about that war here in the US, & since my 6 yo is obsessed with WWI, today seems like a good day to share some people we’ve learned about & who rarely get discussed. So here goes...
This is Henry Lincoln Johnson, a member of the Harlem Hellfighters. On watch in the Argonne Forest on May 14, 1918, he fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while experiencing 21 wounds.
Not sure the identity of this gentleman but my son loves that he has a puppy on the front line. He too was a member of the Harlem Hellfighters—more info on them here via @historycoolkids
This is the Lafayette Escadrille. Years before America entered the war, these guys traveled to France and convinced them to allow a bunch of Americans to fly for them. They engaged in some of the first aerial battles in history.
Eugene Bullard. He was a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. Also the first African-American military pilot.
This is Ahmet Ali Çelikten. He was first Black fighter pilot ever and flew for the Ottoman Empire.
This is Flora Sandra. She joined the ambulance service then enlisted with the Serbian forces where she was injured by a grenade in hand-to-hand combat. She was the only British woman who officially served as a soldier in WWI.
This is Anna Coleman Ladd. She was an American sculptor who created realistic prosthetics for disfigured soldiers during and after WWI. Her services earned her the Légion d'Honneur Croix de Chevalier and the Serbian Order of Saint Sava.
These are the Choctaw code talkers, the first Us military unit to exploit Native American language for code purposes. Many of these men volunteered to fight for the US in the hopes that their service would encourage the government to grant them full citizenship.
And this is Paul Landowski. He was another sculptor but as a young man he served 4 years on the Front and was so traumatized by the experience that he created Les Fantômes, the most incredible anti-war war memorial in France.
(If you don't recognize Landowski's name, you definitely know his work – he also created Christ the Redeemer that stands over Rio)
