American Heroes: A Memorial Day TISIT Digest

To observe Memorial Day this year, we’re running a digest of 4 American heroes. 

Story #1: Peter Conover Hains was born before the Civil War and still wore a U.S. Army uniform in World War I. He fired one of the Civil War’s first naval shots, built ports and canals, and returned to active duty at age 77. His legacy spans over half a century of American warfare — and four generations of service. 

Story #2: Billy Mitchell is often referred to as the Father of the United States Air Force. He was the first one to suggest that airplanes could be used to drop bombs on enemy naval ships. But a recent visit to a museum with my father illuminated a really bizarre fact: Billy Mitchell predicted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 17 years before it happened. In this episode, we learn all about Billy Mitchell, military aviation history and his amazing prediction.

Story #3: In 1976, a skirmish at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea led to the brutal murders of two Americans. The skirmish began over the trimming of a tree. The result was the most expensive tree-trimming in history. America and South Korea returned to the tree with all of their military might in a show of force. In this episode, I’ll tell you a story about the DMZ that you may have never heard.

Story #4: Not many Americans know about the first black fighter pilot, Eugene Bullard. He was one of the most decorated War Heroes in France, fought in two world wars, was a spy, a jazz drummer, a boxer…and he was an American. In this episode, we explore the history of this amazing man.

STORY #1:

Let’s start with Winfield Scott. He fought in the War of 1812, commanded U.S. forces during the Mexican-American War, and still led troops into the early years of the Civil War. They called him “Old Fuss and Feathers” — partly because of his obsession with military decorum, and partly because he lived long enough to become one of the most decorated officers in American history. He also helped lay the groundwork for the modern U.S. Army.

Then there’s Smedley Butler. You might know his name from his later years, when he became one of the most outspoken critics of American imperialism. But before that? He fought in the Boxer Rebellion, saw action in Central America and the Caribbean, and earned two Medals of Honor — one for Veracruz, and one for Haiti. His book War Is a Racket turned a lot of heads, especially coming from someone who’d spent decades in uniform.

There’s also John J. Pershing — known as “Black Jack.” He fought in the Spanish-American War, helped lead campaigns in the Philippines, and in 1916, was sent to hunt down Pancho Villa along the Mexican border. Then came World War I, and Pershing was picked to lead the entire American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He’s one of only two people in U.S. history to be titled “General of the Armies.” The other was George Washington.

Historians have disagreed about the number of people who have fought in both the Civil War and World 1. Some say there was only one. Others point to at least two others. 

There was a Canadian named Charles Boucher who fought in the American Civil War and then allegedly lied about his age to fight in World War One. There was a man named John Clem who fought in the Civil War and retired as World War One was beginning.  

But the most notable is a man who fought in both the American Civil War and World War One 50 years later. He was active in both conflicts. His name was Major General Peter Conover Hains.

Peter Conover Hains was born in 1840, in Philadelphia — a city that, by then, had already seen two American wars, and was about to see a third. He came from a large family of modest means, but had his sights set high. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1857, graduating just four years later, in the spring of 1861 — right as the country collapsed into war.

In fact, Hains had barely graduated when he found himself on the front lines of one of the most significant moments in American history.

He was stationed near Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, at Fort Johnson, as tensions between North and South came to a boil. On January 9, 1861, months before the official start of the war, Hains was ordered to fire a warning shot across the bow of the Star of the West — a Union ship trying to resupply the besieged Fort Sumter.

That shot — according to military historians — was likely the first naval shot of the American Civil War.

Let that sink in.

The war hadn’t even officially begun yet. But Peter Conover Hains, 20 years old, fresh out of West Point, fired the cannon that helped light the match. Literall. He wasn’t just a footnote in the early days of the Civil War — he was standing right at the fuse as it was being lit. In early January of 1861, months before Fort Sumter would become the official opening salvo, tensions were already high in Charleston Harbor. The Union had sent a steamship called the Star of the West to resupply the garrison at Fort Sumter, which was still held by federal troops under Major Robert Anderson. But South Carolina had just seceded from the Union three weeks earlier, and the state considered any effort to reinforce Fort Sumter an act of war. Hains, stationed at Fort Johnson and serving as a young lieutenant in the South Carolina state militia at the time, was ordered to fire a warning shot across the bow of the Star of the West. That cannon shot — meant to turn the ship away — is now widely regarded by historians as the first naval shot of the American Civil War. While it didn’t lead to immediate full-scale fighting, it was a spark. A literal flashpoint. And Peter Conover Hains was the man who pulled the lanyard.

As the war escalated, Hains was assigned to artillery and engineering commands, serving in multiple theaters and gaining a reputation for technical brilliance. He wasn’t leading flashy charges like Joshua Chamberlain or riding with cavalry units — his genius was in logistics and structure. He understood the role of terrain, elevation, fortifications, and fieldworks better than almost anyone his age.

He served in Virginia, Maryland, and along the Mississippi River, helping design and fortify Union positions. His work was less about headlines and more about holding the line. He often supervised the construction of forts, bridges, and artillery emplacements under fire.

In 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg, his engineering skills were put to the test as Union forces tried to outmaneuver Robert E. Lee’s army. Hains designed defensive works and planned artillery bombardments that helped pin down Confederate forces.

And he kept surviving. Unlike many of his West Point classmates who died during the war, Hains emerged with his health, his reputation, and a promising future.

When the war ended in 1865, most young officers left the military. Not Hains.

Instead, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers, and began what would become a monumental career in shaping the physical infrastructure of the United States.

Over the next four decades, Hains worked on:

• Harbor improvements from Boston to Savannah
• Dredging and deepening the Delaware River
• Strengthening the defenses of New York Harbor
• Modernizing coastal fortifications from Charleston to New Orleans
• Planning the first modern canal locks at Niagara Falls

His name appears on blueprints for harbor projects, flood control systems, and navigational channels across the East Coast. He wasn’t just building forts. He was reshaping how goods moved across a growing nation.

In the late 1800s, America had its eyes on a big dream: building a canal through Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The French had already failed spectacularly at this in the 1880s. Thousands of workers died of disease. The terrain was brutal. The logistics were worse. But the U.S. believed it could succeed — and Hains was brought in to help.

He traveled to Panama, studied the region, and joined the Isthmian Canal Commission — the group in charge of selecting the best route. Hains recommended a series of lock-based designs that would eventually become part of the final construction plan under later engineers like John Stevens and George Washington Goethals.

He wasn’t the one who finished the canal. But he helped lay the blueprint. And once again, he did it in uniform.

By 1904, Hains officially retired with the rank of Brigadier General after 43 years of continuous military service. He was 64 years old.

At this point, most people would slow down. Not Hains. At age 64, he retired from the military after building forts, firing Civil War cannons, and helping design the Panama Canal. But 13 years later, as the world fell into global war again — he wasn’t done.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I. The country suddenly needed experienced military leaders — especially in engineering, logistics, and training. And so, someone at the War Department pulled a name from the past: Peter Conover Hains.

At 77 years old, Hains was recalled to active duty — making him one of the oldest serving officers in U.S. military history.

He didn’t go overseas. Instead, he was assigned to stateside command posts, helping train young officers, oversee coastal defenses, and advise on fortifications.

One Army report described him as “remarkably sound of mind, commanding immediate respect, and bringing decades of practical knowledge to every assignment.”

Imagine the generational divide:

The men he was advising were half a century younger. Many had grown up with automobiles and electricity. Hains had fought with black powder rifles and candlelight. But there he was — still teaching. Still leading.

Hains finally retired — for good — in 1918, shortly after the armistice. He died three years later, in 1921, at the age of 81.

He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery, alongside his sons and grandsons.

And speaking of his family — the Hains legacy didn’t end with Peter. His son, Peter C. Hains Jr., served in the U.S. Army and was involved in the famous Annis Yacht Club murder case, which made headlines in 1908. This is the guy whose story I got confused with his dad. In short, his son Peter Hains Jr. fought in multiple wars and while he was still active duty, he murdered his wife’s secret lover at a yacht club and beat the murder charge by pleading insanity. He ended up serving 8 years for manslaughter, but was pardoned by the governor of New York. It’s an interesting story, but not the one we’re talking about this week. So that was Peter Hains son. His  grandson, Peter C. Hains III, served in both World War II and the Korean War.

His great-grandson, Peter C. Hains IV, was a Vietnam veteran.

That’s four generations of military service. All named Peter. All officers.

The Hains family name became almost synonymous with uniformed duty — spanning from the 19th century into the modern age.

So let’s put it in perspective. Peter Conover Hains:

• Fired one of the first shots of the Civil War
• Built major harbors and canals in the Reconstruction Era
• Helped design the Panama Canal
• Served during the birth of mechanized warfare in World War I
• Advised officers who would go on to fight in World War II
• Was buried before the invention of the television, but after the rise of machine guns and tanks

His life is almost impossible to believe. A walking historical bridge between Abraham Lincoln and the Treaty of Versailles. And somehow, very few Americans know his name.

On Memorial Day, we honor those who died while serving their country. But we also remember those whose stories carry across generations. The ones who lived through history — and shaped it with every sunrise in uniform.

Peter Conover Hains wasn’t just a soldier. He was a living timeline. And The Internet Says It’s True.

STORY #2:

If you ever fly through the Milwaukee airport, it’s a tiny little airport, but there are two things there that are really great. One of them is the Renaissance Book store, which is a used book store that’s a lot of fun to go through. The other is an entire museum dedicated to hometown hero, Billy Mitchell. So let’s learn a little about this amazing aviator.

Billy Mitchell is often considered the “Father of the United States Air Force.” That’s because he was the first one to argue that it would be possible to create bombers that could fly over and attack battleships from the air. Mitchell was born in 1879 in Nice, France while his American parents were on vacation. His father was a wealthy Wisconsin Senator who had served in the Civil War. His grandfather had established a railroad and bank in Milwaukee, so he was born into wealth. Mitchell went to Racine College and Columbian University (that was the original name of George Washington University) but dropped out to fight in the Spanish American War. He fought for General MacArthur – this was Arthur MacArthur, the father of the famous General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines during the Phillipine-American War in 1899 and eventually joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which was the group that handled the Army’s communications and information systems. 

In 1901, he was in Alaska helping to lay telegraph lines through the wilderness and experienced Otto Lilienthal’s experiments with gliders. In 1908, he had watched Orville Wright fly his 1908 Flyer in Virginia. Wright had spent the week flying his aircraft daily and showing it off to the military at Fort Myer. These were his first experiences with aviation and he became particularly interested in the use of aircraft to fight wars. When he was eventually promoted to serve on the General Staff of the Signal Corps, he was the natural choice to head up the new Aviation Section of the Army Signal Corps. He had been the one talking non-stop about how future wars would be fought using aircraft. This was around 1913 and by 1916, at the age of 38, he took private flying lessons and became an aviator himself – just before the United States entered into World War One. 

Until the first world war, the United States military had only used aircraft for reconnaissance, mostly through the use of balloons, but then with the 1909 Wright A Flyer. In France, Mitchell studied the production of aircraft for the use in military. He met with Royal Air Force Commander Sir Hugh Trenchard, who was also calling on the use of offensive military aircraft at the time. 

In 1918, Billy Mitchell had been promoted to Brigadier General and in the battle of St. Mihiel, Mitchell conducted aerial attack campaigns that wreaked havoc on German forces. He spent the war and the next few years arguing that the Air Force should be its own dependent armed service separate from the Army and should be used to bomb enemy naval forces. In 1921, he started lobbying to the military that he could use a Martin MB2 bomber to sink battleships. So he arranged for a demonstration, moored an out of commission captured German battleship in place, gathered a bunch of big wigs like the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy and showed them once and for all that he could bomb the ship, which he did successfully. And while the test showed how effective aerial bombing could be, the military – particularly the Navy, did not like Mitchell’s heavy-handed tactics and criticisms of the armed forces. 

There is a lot to cover in Billy Mitchell’s military career – so much that we can’t cover it all here. The important part of this story happened in 1923, just after his bombing demonstration. Mitchell traveled to the Far East on an inspection tour. And it was that tour where he really saw the destructive threat of air superiority. In his report submitted to his commanding officers after his trip, he warned that Japan was dead set on expansionism and would one day attack the United States.

When Billy Mitchell returned from the Pacific in 1924, he submitted a 328-page manuscript. It ended up getting hidden by the military and eventually lost in the files of the War Dept for decades, but when it was rediscovered, people who read it were amazed at what they saw. 

The report detailed what Mitchell thought would happen in the future. Keep in mind, this was 1924. He said Japan would attack Hawaii as part of their expansionist plans. And they would focus that attack on Oahu. These are his exact words as written in the report:

“There is no adequate defense against air attack except an air force. This can be supplemented by auxiliaries on the ground, such as cannon, machine guns, and balloon barrages, but without air power these arrangements act only to give a false sense of security, such as the ostrich must feel when he hides his head in the sand.…”

He continued, “Attack will be launched as follows: Bombardment Attack to be made on Ford’s Island at 7:30 A.M.…Attack to be made on Clark Field (Philippine Islands) at 10:40 a.m.”

The details in the report were staggering. He went into great minutia on what forces Japan would have, the time it would take to reach their target, the defense of the Hawaiian Islands, and more. 

The military didn’t take it well. They saw it as more criticism and insubordination. That was just one of the reasons he was court-martialed in 1925, an act that General Douglas MacArthur described as “one of the most distasteful orders I ever received.” The blimp “Shenandoah” had crashed in 1925, killing 14 and 3 different sea planes had crashed killing their pilots. After these events, Mitchell had written a statement blaming senior military leaders. They obviously saw this as mutiny and President Coolidge himself ordered the Court Martial. They ended up finding him guilty and suspended him from active duty while reducing his pay by half for 5 years. He resigned the following year and spent the rest of his life preaching about air power. In 1936, he died from heart disease at the young age of 56. This was 5 years before the unthinkable would happen in Hawaii. It was, of course unthinkable to everyone who wasn’t named Billy Mitchell. 

Remember his prediction said Pearl Harbor would be attacked at 7:30am and the Philippines would be attacked at 10:40am. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by air by the Japanese starting at 7:48am. They also attacked Clark Field in the Philippines. His prediction on that attack was only off by about an hour. 

Of course Mitchell never lived to see his prediction come true. He never lived to see the Air Force become it’s own entity. He never lived to see the American military’s air superiority. All of these things, he was right about and died before they ever happened. He’s been given his due respect since then. He’s the only person to have a military aircraft named after him. He’s widely regarded as the father of the American Air Force. The Internet Says it’s True. 

STORY #3:

On the last day of a nearly month-long tour performing for the troops in Korea, we toured the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. This is a closely watched area of the DMZ where it’s common to see North Korean and South Korean troops standing at attention just steps away from each other. I always describe the tour there as a really strange combination of active war zone and tourism. Razor wire fences and tour buses. Machine guns and photo opportunities. The War in Korea was never won or lost or declared over. It’s just on a 68 year cease-fire. And every once in awhile, tensions between the two countries flare. Like in 2017, when North Korea fired on a defector as he escaped the country. <audio from news> 

By the way – the area where that happened is exactly where I stood 7 years before. The Joint Security Area – sometimes referred to as “Truce Village” or more correctly Panmunjom is a large area in the middle of the DMZ where UN Security Officers led us on a tour of the region. Before that tour, we had to have a briefing telling us what we could and couldn’t do. And in that briefing room, encased in glass, is a tree trunk. A small brass plaque in Korean and English is attached to the top of the trunk. It reads: “This is a piece of the tree over which two UNC officers were murdered by North Korean guards 18 August, 1976.”

It was that poplar tree that began the entire incident in 1976. Throughout the DMZ, there are a series of observation posts and checkpoints. You can see these buildings throughout the Joint Security area and the two buildings that we’ll be talking about are two that are near a small bridge. The bridge has a significant history – it was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean War and it’s known as “The Bridge of No Return.” Near that bridge is a road and a United Nations Checkpoint – called CP Number 3. Not far away from that was Observation Post number 5. And during the winter months, there was a clear view of CP Number 3 from the observation post. But by summer, when the leaves were full on the trees, you could only see the very top of the Checkpoint building. In particular, there was one poplar tree that had grown up to be 40 feet-tall and was obstructing the view.

Now at this point, it’s probably important to provide a small backstory. I said the incident started with this tree, but there is a little bit more than that – in 1976, it had been more than 20 years since the armistice at the end of the Korean War, but tensions were still high. A couple months prior to the tree incident, a North Korean soldier got into a fight with an American officer and Captain Arthur Bonifas, who had just arrived at Camp Liberty Bell – the camp on the American side of the Joint Security Area, had to break the fight up. After that, a group of American Soldiers had been held at gun point by North Korean soldiers and once again, Captain Bonifas had to step in and settle the matter. So by the time Captain Bonifas showed up to supervise a group of people to trim the poplar tree, there was already some bad blood from recent events. They had been requesting for the tree to be trimmed and their requests were denied by the North Koreans.

On August 18th of 1976, Captain Bonifas and his South Korean Army counterpart, Captain Kim, arrived with 11 American enlisted men, their platoon leader, First Lieutenant Mark Barrett, and a group of five Korean Service Corps personnel. They showed up in a truck with axes and picks to trim the tree and began to get to work.

Before they could complete the trimming, a truck rushed in full of 15 North Korean guards. Their lieutenant, Pak Chul, demanded that they stop trimming the tree. He yelled to Bonifas, “The branches that are cut will be of no use just as you will be after you die.” Bonifas had been trained to ignore threats from the North Korean guards, who were always looking for reasons to say the Americans were the aggressors. So he continued to oversee the trimming of the tree while Lieutenant Pak sent for 30 more soldiers.  So as Captain Bonifas turned his back to the North Koreans, Lieutenant Pak removed his watch, wrapped it in a cloth and put it in his pocket. Another North Korean officer began rolling up his sleeves. They were preparing to fight. 

North Korean Lieutenant Pak Chul was known as “Lieutenant Bulldog” because of his history of starting fights and being difficult to work with. As the 40 foot poplar tree was being trimmed, he yelled “Kill the bastards!” And began running toward the Americans and South Koreans. His soldiers picked up the tools being used to trim the tree and started attacking. Their first target were the leaders of the group, thinking they could stop them from ordering a counter-attack.

At least 5 Korean Guards attacked Captain Bonifas with an axe and various tools, beating him to death on the ground. Another group attacked Lieutenant Mark Barrett, who was attacked, then jumped over a wall to escape and fell 15 feet. The entire attack only lasted about 30 seconds. Almost every person sent to trim the poplar tree sustained injuries. They placed Bonifas in the back of the truck and retreated to safety, but couldn’t find Barrett. It turns out the North Koreans had been taking turns going down into the depression where Barrett was lying and hitting him with an axe. By the time he was recovered, it was too late. He died on the way to the hospital. 

I’m telling you the story the way it really happened. But here’s how it was reported that day in North Korean media:

“Around 10:45 a.m. today, the American imperialist aggressors sent in 14 hoodlums with axes into the Joint Security Area to cut the trees on their own accord, although such a work should have mutually consented beforehand. Four persons from our side went to the spot to warn them not to continue the work without our consent. Against our persuasion, they attacked our guards en masse and committed a serious provocative act of beating our men, wielding murderous weapons and depending on the fact that they outnumbered us. Our guards could not but resort to self-defense measures under the circumstances of this reckless provocation.”

The result of this attack is the true story here. It was called the most expensive tree-trimming operation in history, and is one of the untold truly great moments of Gerald Ford’s Presidency. If you consider the political situation of the time, Ronald Reagan had just challenged Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination for President and one of the things he used to hit Ford on was that he was weak on Communism. Ford had pardoned draft dodgers from the Vietnam War and he needed to look tough on foreign Communist powers. 

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger went to China to make sure they’d put their foot down on North Korea if needed. He said, quote “We cannot permit the principle to be established that Americans can be assaulted with impunity.” They also met with the President of South Korea to make a statement.

Jointly, they decided to go back and trim the poplar tree, but to do it in a huge way that would show North Korea the force of the combined military strength they were dealing with. If Kim Il Sung wanted to send a message, the United Nations Command with the power of the United States Military, would send an even stronger one. It was called Operation Paul Bunyan and it was scheduled to happen just 3 days after Captain Bonifas and Lieutenant Barrett were killed. 

It’s amazing the amount of force that was scrambled in just 3 days. The tree trimming would be conducted with a convoy of 23 trucks and military road vehicles, supplied by both the South Korean and American Armies. Two 30-man platoons provided back up to these forces with guns and clubs. The bridge was rigged with explosives in case the North Koreans started driving trucks in their direction. Circling overhead in the air were 20 utility helicopters, 6 Cobra attack helicopters, several nuclear-capable B-52 Bombers sent from Guam, escorted by American F4 Phantom Fighter jets, a dozen C-130 gunships and South Korean F-5 and F-86 Fighters. The aircraft carrier USS Midway had been moved to a defensive position just off shore of the DMZ. Just outside the DMZ, military battalions prepared hawk missiles aimed at North Korea. Thousands of troops prepared at their bases throughout South Korea just in case this led to war. Camp Liberty Bell was rigged with explosives in case North Korea attacked and took over the base. It was the most expensive tree trimming in the history of the world.

Operation Paul Bunyan was a success if the objective was trimming a tree. The entire tree was chopped down. It was also a success if the objective was getting North Korea to apologize. After seeing the military might displayed to trim the tree during the operation,  North Korean Leader Kim Il Sung expressed his regret at the axe murder incident later that same day. 

When my friend Mark and I visited the Joint Security Area, we did so because my show that night was at the American military base on the South side of the JSA. It was a great show – an amazing experience. And I should mention that the base was renamed. When we visited, it wasn’t called Camp Liberty Bell anymore. It’s now known by a new name…Camp Bonifas.

STORY #4:

Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1895. His father was a free black man and his mother was an Indigenous woman from the Creek tribe. Together, they had 10 children. Eugene’s father had come to America from the Caribbean and avoided slavery by living with the Native Americans. The Creek Tribe took them in, and kept them safe from the ravages of slavery and civil war in America. But as the 7th child of 10, Eugene wasn’t happy. He ran away from home several times and the most recent time had been found by his father, who brought him home and beat him. But something else happened around that time that made an impact on the young boy. His father had been attacked and hit a white man in self defense. In retaliation, he was severely beaten and almost lynched by a group of drunken white men in Georgia. At 1906, at the age of 11, Eugene decided he wasn’t safe in his current situation. He ran away for good.

For the next six years, Bullard wandered the American South, searching for a freedom and happiness he imagined was out there for him. And in 1912, he found it in the form of a German freighter. He stowed away on the ship bound for Hamburg Germany and traveled throughout Europe. From Germany, to Scotland, he made his way to London. He earned money as a comedy performer in an all-black entertainment troupe and as a boxer. One of the boxing matches brought him to France, and he loved Paris. Bullard’s father came from the French Colony of Martinique and spoke French in his childhood home. In fact, his father’s family lived in Martinique after escaping slavery in nearby Haiti. Both were French colonies at the time, so the French language didn’t sound foreign to Bullard. Nor did their way of accepting people with a different skin color. He had been told that a black man and a white man could succeed just the same in France and was once quoted as saying “it seemed to me that French Democracy influenced the minds of both black and white Americans there and helped us all act like brothers.” 

World War 1 had begun in the summer of 1914 and Bullard decided to sign up with the French Foreign Legion and fought in some of the war’s most historic and deadly battles. With the casualty figures as high as they were, it was miraculous that Bullard survived through them. As his French Foreign Legion regiment was decimated, he was allowed to join the French Army in the 170th Infantry Regiment.  

Soldiers in 170th Infantry were known as the “Swallows of Death.” Their symbol depicted this swallow on their patch and logo. He was the only black member of the regiment and soon became known as “The Black Swallow of Death.” The 170th was an elite unit – but soon saw death all around him in the Battle of Verdun. In that 10 month battle, the French suffered 850,000 casualties. Eugene Bullard came out of the battle badly wounded. He had lost all his teeth, and survived a hole in his thigh from shrapnel. He was awarded both the Croix de Guerre (Cwa de gare), or Cross of War and the Medal Militaire in June 1916. Though his days of foot soldiering were over, he hadn’t yet embarked on the part of his life that would make him famous. 

While recovering from his wounds from the ground war, Eugene Bullard was having drinks with an American friend in Paris who bet him $2,000 that he couldn’t enlist in the French Flying Service. Bullard took the wager to heart and trained for 7 months to become an aircraft gunner in the French Air Force’s Lafayette Flying Corps. This was a volunteer air force in France made up of All-Americans.  It didn’t take long for him to work his way forward to the cockpit and in 1917, Bullard earned his wings in the Aeronautique Militaire in a unit called the Escadrille 85. He was now the world’s first black fighter pilot. 

Bullard never claimed to be a great pilot. He had trouble mastering the difficult-to-fly Caudron G4, which was a twin engine fighter. Despite that, it’s said that he scored 2 aerial victories, shooting down a Fokker Triplane and Pfalz D 3. He and his monkey Jimmy – yes, he had a pet Rhesus monkey named Jimmy, who often accompanied him in the airplane, flew over 20 combat missions and remained only one of 2 black fighter pilots in World War 1. 

Around this time, America was entering World War One. Many of the Lafayette Flying Corps pilots – remember these were Americans – were leaving the unit to fly with the American Military. And while his American flying friends were leaving to do this – Bullard was not accepted. The American Military wouldn’t agree to have a black pilot. 

Eventually, Bullard found himself back on the ground, fighting the grueling battles with 170th Infantry again until the end of the war. By the end of World War One, he was one of the most decorated soldiers in France.

This story sounds like something from a movie. But it’s not over! After the war, Eugene worked as a jazz drummer in the 1920s and 30s. He eventually opened a jazz club of his own and called it the Escadrille – an homage to the name of his French air squadron. He became very well known in France and rubbed elbows with celebrities like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Charlie Chaplin and Langston Hughes. Near the end of the 1930s, the world was spinning into war again – and Bullard was there for it. 

In the beginning of World War II, he worked with the French military in their espionage division. There was a faction of French Citizens that supported the Nazis. Bullard embedded himself within them to report their clandestine activities back to France. Later in World War II, he fought as a machine gunner in the 51st infantry and was severely wounded by an artillery shell. France was being invaded by Germany and he feared being captured by the Nazis, so he escaped through Spain and made his way back to America. 

The America he returned to in the late 1940s wasn’t much different than the one he left as a boy. He had found work doing odd jobs, but had trouble succeeding in a world that only saw his skin color. He worked with New York civil rights leaders to take up the cause of fighting for the rights of African Americans, but became disheartened to the cause when he was beaten by police when he and his friends had become the target of a racist attack at a concert. 

In the 1954, this war hero – who was unknown to Americans – who at the time was being forced to sit in the back the bus in New York – was personally invited back to France by French President Charles de Gaulle himself to be given the honor of lighting the flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. A few years later, he was officially made a Chevalier de la Legion dHonneur for his service in two world wars. Despite all of this – despite 15 military decorations as an American fighting in France, he had never been recognized by the United States for any of his amazing achievements.

Eugene Bullard – an American War hero who is largely unknown to Americans – died in 1961. He was laid to rest with Full French Honors in the Federation of French War Veterans Cemetery in New York. He had a special request. He was buried in the uniform of a French Foreign Legionnaire. 

In 1994, 33 years after his death, he was finally given his due recognition in The United States. President Clinton posthumously commissioned Eugene Bullard, “The Black Swallow of Death” as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

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