France Honors Anniversary Of American War Aviators

Touquin, Saints, and Mauperthuis, three French villages located approximately forty-five miles east of Paris, will also be hosting a special ceremony on this day, organized in part by historian Narayan Sengupta of Smyrna, Georgia. Their ceremony, however, will be of a different nature: It will be held not be to mark the occasion of the Fête nationale but, rather, to commemorate the American aviators of World War I, who helped the Allies to achieve victory on French soil and end the war.

The date July 14, 1918, holds a special significance in World War I history. It was the day on which fighter pilot Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s youngest son, was shot down and killed in aerial combat over France. While perhaps the most famous, Roosevelt was certainly not the only American air serviceman to enter into combat over French soil during World War I, nor did he constitute the only American aviation casualty.

In 1918, many young American men left their families, friends, studies, and jobs behind to become aviators and fight in a war abroad, at the time known as “The Great War,” that had already been unfolding for four years. They would be based in the French villages of Touquin, Saints, and Mauperthuis.

By the end of World War I, forty-five squadrons of the United States Air Service had participated in seven aerial campaigns over France and could claim to have downed enemy combatants of seven hundred eighty-one planes and seventy-three balloons. They had produced 71 aces, five of whom were reported to have accumulated more than ten victories each. 140 tons of bombs had been dropped in 150 bombing runs. In exchange, the American aviators had lost 289 airplanes, 48 balloons, and 237 of their own men.

On the 90th anniversary of the first aerial combat operations of the United States Air Service, the three French villages of Touquin, Saints, and Mauperthuis will hold a special commemorative ceremony. Events will take place in each village on July 14, 2008, to honor the courage and sacrifices of the American aviators who helped bring a close to the war. And just as other French villages will be celebrating Bastille Day, in Touquin, Saints, and Mauperthuis, both French and American citizens, including members of our own community here in the Southeast, will gather together to celebrate a long-standing friendship.

For more information about this event, visit http://www.usaww1.com/.

Source: Reported by Consulate of France In Atlanta