Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1895. His father had survived an attempted lynching. He left home as a child, stowed away to Europe as a teenager, and made a living in Britain and France as a boxer and a music-hall performer. When the First World War began he joined the French Foreign Legion. He fought at Verdun and was badly wounded, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Unfit for infantry service, he trained as a pilot and qualified in 1917 — becoming the first Black military pilot in history. He flew combat missions with the Lafayette Flying Corps. His aircraft carried a painted heart pierced by a dagger and the words "All blood runs red". The United States entered the war and began recruiting American pilots flying for France into its own air service. Bullard applied. He was not accepted. The US Army Air Service took white American pilots from his unit and not him. He stayed in France, ran a nightclub in Paris in the 1920s and 30s, married, and had two daughters. When the Germans invaded in 1940 he fought again, was wounded again, and got out through Spain. He returned to New York, where he was nobody. In 1949 he was beaten by a mob, including police officers, at the Peekskill riots in New York. Photographs of the assault exist. He worked as a security guard, a perfume salesman and finally as an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center. He was interviewed once on television in 1959, in uniform, at his elevator. France did not forget. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1959, and in 1954 was one of three men chosen to relight the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe. He died in New York in 1961. In 1994, thirty-three years after his death, the United States Air Force commissioned him posthumously as a second lieutenant. #EugeneBullard #History #Aviation

Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1895. His father had survived an attempted lynching. He left home as a child, stowed away to Europe as a teenager, and made a living in Britain and France as a boxer and a music-hall performer. When the First World War began he joined the French Foreign Legion. He fought at Verdun and was badly wounded, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Unfit for infantry service, he trained as a pilot and qualified in 1917 — becoming the first Black military pilot in history. He flew combat missions with the Lafayette Flying Corps. His aircraft carried a painted heart pierced by a dagger and the words "All blood runs red". The United States entered the war and began recruiting American pilots flying for France into its own air service. Bullard applied. He was not accepted. The US Army Air Service took white American pilots from his unit and not him. He stayed in France, ran a nightclub in Paris in the 1920s and 30s, married, and had two daughters. When the Germans invaded in 1940 he fought again, was wounded again, and got out through Spain. He returned to New York, where he was nobody. In 1949 he was beaten by a mob, including police officers, at the Peekskill riots in New York. Photographs of the assault exist. He worked as a security guard, a perfume salesman and finally as an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center. He was interviewed once on television in 1959, in uniform, at his elevator. France did not forget. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1959, and in 1954 was one of three men chosen to relight the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe. He died in New York in 1961. In 1994, thirty-three years after his death, the United States Air Force commissioned him posthumously as a second lieutenant. #EugeneBullard #History #Aviation