(1) Volontaires #américains avec l'armée française lors du #1GM. Nous connaissons les célèbres #soldats avec L'escadrille La Fayette, mais jetons un coup d'œil à quelques héros moins connus de #France et d' #Amérique. Nos #poilus. #GrandeGuerre #Histoire

(2) American volunteers with the @armeedeterre during the #FWW/ #WWI. We know the famous pilots with the Lafayette Escadrille, but let's take a look at some lesser-known heroes of #France and #America. #History @franceintheus

(3) The State Archives of North Carolina holds some amazing photos from Kiffin Y. Rockwell a soldier of the #Légionétrangère and #pilot of the Lafayette Escadrille.

(4) Photograph of five American members of le #Légionétrangère, posing on a dirt road in the commune of Cuiry-lès-Chaudardes, 1914-1915. Pictured are (L to R): Denis Dowd of #Brooklyn; Kiffin Rockwell; Fred Capdevielle of #NYC; Charles Trinkard of #Brooklyn; and an unknown #poilu

(5) Paul Ayres Rockwell (center), posing with a cane, with two soldiers in France sometime during World War I. One of the men pictured is American French Foreign Legion volunteer Herman Lincoln Chatkoff (right).

(6) Kenneth Weeks, taken while he was a volunteer in the French Foreign Legion. Kenneth’s mother Alice Weeks made her home in #Paris, a refuge for American volunteers in the Foreign Legion following Kenneth’s death in 1915.

(7) It should be noted that the volontaires américains, were not altogether happy to be serving in the #ForeignLegion. Kiffin Rockwell wrote to his brother Paul; 'If you can get me transferred to a regular French regiment or to the Premier Etranger, get busy at once."

(8) This ended up happening for a group of the Americans who requested service in a regular régiment d'infanterie. They became part of the famed #170eRI "Hirondelles de la mort" (The Swallows of Death).

(9) Others would continue on in the Legion or transfer to the Air Service. Poet Allen Seeger stayed in the Legion, writing "Most of the other Americans have taken advantage of the permission to pass into a regular French regiment. There is much to be said for their decision,...

(10) but I have remained true to the Legion where I am content and have good comrades. I have a pride particularly in the Moroccan Division, whereof we are the first brigade. Those who march with the #Zouaves and the #Algerian tirailleurs are sure to be where there is most
honor.

(11) Interestingly, the men who served in the #170eRI went with that regiment through the hell of #Verdun, the #Somme, the #Aisne, and #Champagne in 1918. Many remained as #Poilus even after the US entered the War in 1917.

(12) John Bowe wrote of the transfer; "The 170th is a notable regiment. Time and again have its members been complimented by General #Joffre. They are his children, his pride. Never were they called upon when they failed to make good...

(13) They have rushed into almost certain extermination and came out alive. Anointed with success, they fear nothing. They have charged into a cataclysm of destruction, which swallowed up whole companies, and returned with a battalion of German prisoners...

(14) Against all opposition, they prevail. Spite of death, they live, always triumphant, never defeated. Theirs is an invincibility—a contempt of peril, which only men who have continually risked and won can have. In the confusion and complications of battle,...

(15) they are masters in obstruction and counter-attack. They have been torn, shocked and churned about—but they have arrived. Faces burning in zeal, exalted for the cause they serve, stimulated by the companionship of kindred spirits,...

(16) they heedlessly dash to victory, or, the sunset—for the secret of victory rests in the hearts of the combatants.

(17) Lets take a quick look at some of the #Americans serving outside of the legion and Escadrille Lafayette.

(18) F. Capdevielle of #NY was decorated for gallantry, at Verdun, in the spring of 1916. By 1917 he had been wounded and fatigued to an extreme and sent to the hospital.

(19) Eugene Jacobs was a butcher from #Pawtucket, #RhodeIsland. He was promoted to Sergeant in the #170eRI and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

(20) Frank Musgrave was a lawyer from #SanAntonio, #TX. While serving with the 170e he was captured at the Battle of #Verdun.

(21) George Marquet of #NY served with the 8th Company, #8eRI. He was killed in action at Hill 304 near #Verdun, outside of the #Argonne where so many Americans would die two years later.

(22) Henry La Grange's ancestor had served with #Napoleon in #Egypt. When he was ordered to the Legion he replied “No,” he said, “I want to go to my grandfather’s regiment, the 8th. If I can’t join that I will not go at all.” He received the Croix de Guerre.

(23) Emile Van de Kerkove, of #Pawtucket, Rhode Island, served with distinction in the #246eRI and #10eRI.

(24) Andrew Walbron of #Paterson, #NJ served as a Corporal in the #78eRI, and was wounded four times.

(25) Paul Perigord was a professor from #Minnesota. He served as a Lieutenant in the #14eRI. He was cited four times in army orders, and decorated with the Croix de Guerre

(26) Robert Mulhauser transferred from the Legion to the #170eRI. He was promoted to Lieutenant at #Verdun and received the Croix de Guerre.

(27) Robert Pellissier was a #Harvard graduate. He served as a sergeant in #Chasseurs Alpins. He was killed on the #Somme, August 29, 1916.

(28) Sylvain Rosenberg was 23 years old and from #NY. He served in the #251eRI. He was wounded at the #Marne, Sept. 7, 1914, #Argonne, Dec. 8, 1915, cited in the Orders of the Day, and killed March 15, 1916, at #Verdun.

(Final) I hope this #thread helped share some stories of the connections between #France and the #USA. Not all #Americans who fought in #WWI were #doughboys. We should remember too, those #Poilus who came from across the sea. #1J1P #History #Histoire https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45080/ode-in-memory-of-the-american-volunteers-fallen-for-france