James Rogers McConnell Birth 0 Mar. 14, 1887 Death 0 Mar. 19, 1917 Famed combat pilot of the First World War. A native of Chicago, he became a member of the renowned Lafayette Escadrille of American volunteers. After graduating from the Haverford School in Pennsylvania, he entered theUniversity of Virginia in 1907. He spent two years in the College and a year in the Law School, withdrawing from his studies in the spring of 1910. After several years in business in New York and in Carthage, North Carolina, where he served as land and industrial agent for a small railroad, McConnell sailed from New York with a friend in January 1915, to enlist in the French service. Through the spring and summer of 1915 he drove for Section "Y" of the American Ambulance, in the thick of the fighting on the Western Front, around Pont-a-Mousson and theBois-le-Pretre. He was cited for conspicuous bravery and awarded the Croix de Guerre. A deepening conviction of the rightness of the French cause led him to volunteer for service in French aviation. He trained at the flying school at Pau and earned his wings on February 6, 1916.On April 20, 1916 he joined the newly-formed American Escadrille (later redesignated the Lafayette Escadrille) at its operational base atLuxeuil-les-Bains, becoming one of the first four of the seven original Escadrille pilots to arrive. He participated in the squadron's first patrol on May 13, 1916, and in the aerial actions during the great German offensive at Verdun in June and the Allied counteroffensives in July and August. On July 1, 1916, he was promoted to sergeant, the rank which he held until his death.He lost his life in aerial combat with two German planes, above the Somme battlefields, near the village of Flavy-le-Martel, Aisne, and became the last American pilot of the squadron to dieunder French colors, before American entrance into the war in April 1917. His body initially laid to rest where he fell, and was later re-interred at the its present place of honor in accordance with his father's wishes. McConnell was memorialized with a plaque from the French government and a statue by Gutzon Borglum at the University of Virginia, and with an obelisk on the court square of his home town of Carthage, North Carolina. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7589827
James Rogers McConnell. Born March 14, 1887, in Chicago Illinois. Son of Judge Samuel P. and Sarah Rogers McConnell. Home, Carthage, North Carolina. Educated Morristown School, New Jersey; Haverford School, Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia, Class of 1910. In business, New York City. From 1912, Industrial Agent, Randolph and Cumberland Railroad, North Carolina. Secretary, Carthage Board of Trade. Joined American Field Service, February 11, 1915; attached Section Two until December 12, 1915. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted French Aviation, October 1, 1915. Trained Pau and Plessis-Belleville. Breveted February 6, 1916. Attached as Sergent, Lafayette Escadrille, N 124, April 20, 1916. Killed in combat over the German lines, March 19, 1917, near Petit-Détroit, southeast of Ham. Croix de Guerre with palm. Buried Petit-Détroit, Aisne. http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/mcconnell.html http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/mcconnell/laf.html
