{"id":2,"featured":0,"modified":"2022-05-11 16:10:54","latitude":49.158927800000001,"longitude":5.3867276999999998,"title":"Eugene Bullard","address":"","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/4e9e1d7e1bff6c5a4e64c9c588525984.jpg","creator":["Museum of History and Holocaust Education"],"description":"Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, on October 9, 1895. His parents, William and Josephine, had formerly been enslaved. At the age of 11, he ran away from home, seeking a better life. This led him to stow away on the Marta Russ<\/em>, a ship bound for Germany, in 1912.

Bullard spent his early youth in Scottland and England performing as a member of an Afrian American entertainment troupe that made use of popular stereotypes. A talented boxer, he traveled to France in 1913 and was impressed by French democracy, writing later that \"it influenced the minds of both black and white Americans there and helped us all act like brothers.\"

Bullard enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in 1914, shortly after the start of World War I. He fought in the Battle of Verdun as a part of the 170th Infantry Regiment and decided to enlist in the French flying service while recuperating from a wound he sustained in battle. In November 1916, he became a part of the Aeronautique Militaire.

After completing his training at Tours, he received in wings in May 1917 and served with Excadrille Spas 93 and 85. He claimed two aerial victories and became known for flying with his pet Rhesus monkey, Jimmy.\u00a0

Racial prejudice affected Bullard's life as the world became more interconnnected. When the United States joined World War I in 1917, Bullard tried to join the U.S. Air Service but was rejected. He did not remain with the Aeronautique Militaire for the duration of the war either due to a reported confrontation with a French officer. He finished the war as a member of the 170th Infantry Regiment.

In the inerwar years, Bullard married and raised two daughters in Paris.\u00a0

On the eve of World War II, Bullard became involved in espionage against French supporters of the Nazi regime, leveraging his position as a night club entertainer in Paris's burgeoning jazz scene and his ability to speak French, German, and English. He joined the 51st Infantry Regiment in France when the war broke out, but fled to the United States, fearing capture by the Nazis.\u00a0

Back in the United States, Bullard worked as a security guard and longshoreman, living in Harlem in New York City. He became an advocate for civil rights but grew dissillusioned with progress in the United States after several violent incidents including being beaten by police at a Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York in 1949.

In the 1950s, Bullard split his time between France, where he was honored for his wartime service with 14 medals and made a knight of the Legion of Honor, and the United States, where he worked odd jobs including as a translator for jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and an an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center. He died in New York in 1961 and was buried with military honors in the French War Veterans' section of the Flushing Cemetery, in Queens.

It was not until more than thirty years later that he was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He was also recognized as one of the inaugural membes of the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1992, a bronze portrait of Bullard, created by Black sculptor Eddie Dixon was added to the National Air and Space Museum, donated by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation to honor his memory.","sponsor":"Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books","subtitle":"Military Pilot","accessinfo":"","lede":"\"Tout le sang qui coule rouge.\"~Eugene Bullard's pilot's motto, meaning \"All Blood is Red,\" 1914-1917","website":"","related_resources":["https:\/\/airandspace.si.edu\/stories\/editorial\/eugene-j-bullard"],"files":{"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/4e9e1d7e1bff6c5a4e64c9c588525984.jpg":{"id":73,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Cropped portrait of Eugene Bullard","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/4e9e1d7e1bff6c5a4e64c9c588525984.jpg","description":"Wikimedia Commons | French Aeronautique Militaire"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/2c007522fb6e06aba9bf54c3f06b7bd0.jpg":{"id":2,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Eugene Bullard in his Legionnaire uniform","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/2c007522fb6e06aba9bf54c3f06b7bd0.jpg","description":"ID: A black and white portrait of a Black man wearing a leather jacket and leather cap with a medal on his chest. | Wikimedia Commons | U.S. Air Force"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/e8708ee7a3c7607deb89683fd45c595d.jpg":{"id":70,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Portrait of Eugene Bullard","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/e8708ee7a3c7607deb89683fd45c595d.jpg","description":"Eugene Bullard was the first African American military pilot to fly in combat and the only African American pilot to fly during WWI. Ironically he never flew for the United States, but rather for the A\u00e9ronautique Militaire in France. ID: A Black man wearing a high-neck military uniform bedecked with medals, standing with his arms crossed over his chest. | National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution,
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\r\nhttps:\/\/airandspace.si.edu\/multimedia-gallery\/si-91-6283640jpg | Aeronautique Militaire "},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/15a36f8fe1687a1bdb748144cb6cfdbe.jpg":{"id":71,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Eugene Bullard with his Rhesus Monkey, Jimmy.","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/15a36f8fe1687a1bdb748144cb6cfdbe.jpg","description":"Photo taken between August 27, 1917 and September 13, 1917, where Bullard served, in Escadrille Spad 93, with the Lafayette Flying Corps in France. According to the Smithsonian, Bullard was said to have had an insignia on his Spad 7 C.1 that portrayed a heart with a dagger running through it and the slogan \u201cAll Blood Runs Red.\u201d ID: Black and white photograph of a Black man wearing a coat and boots resting his arm on the body of small airplane with a furrty monkey sitting on hi sarm. | Smithsonian Air and Space Museum | French Aeronautique Militaire\/U.S. Air Force Photo Montage"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/e22933c58ab51e62620f600c48db0bc6.jpg":{"id":72,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Bronze sculpture of Eugene Jacques Bullard, donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1992 by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation. Artist: Eddie Dixon.","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/e22933c58ab51e62620f600c48db0bc6.jpg","description":"ID: Bronze bust of an African American man wearing a leather cap and scarf | Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Eddie Dixon"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/c191071e66ba8aef1f400f8264c6fca8.jpg":{"id":74,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":":Eugene Bullard exhibit in the Early Years Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo) , Dayton Ohio","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/c191071e66ba8aef1f400f8264c6fca8.jpg","description":"Wikimedia Commons | U.S. Air Force"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/3f04b26530f1dc283680ad5c4d1b43ea.jpg":{"id":75,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Eugene Bullard in France with a group of soldiers","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/3f04b26530f1dc283680ad5c4d1b43ea.jpg","description":"ID: Two rows of soldiers in uniform stand in front of a white tent. Eugene Bullard is fourth from the right in the back, the only Black man in the group. | Wikimedia Commons | French government"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/5b87a8046d04bb1f07409d71bfad793f.jpg":{"id":76,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Eugene Jacques Bullard, in a historic photo provided by the U.S. Air Force.","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/5b87a8046d04bb1f07409d71bfad793f.jpg","description":"ID: Two rows of men in French Legionaiires uniforms stand. Bullard is the only Black man in the group, standing at the far left of the back row, looking over his right shoulder. | Wikimedia Commons | U.S. Airforce"},"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/fullsize\/69bf431413c48f832bea99beb1029b98.jpg":{"id":77,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Eugene Bullard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris","thumbnail":"https:\/\/veteranstories.kennesaw.edu\/files\/square_thumbnails\/69bf431413c48f832bea99beb1029b98.jpg","description":"Bullard was invited to Paris in 1954 to be one of three men chosen to rekindle the everlasting flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. According to the website The Unknown Soldier At The Base Of The Arc De Triomphe: "At the base of the Arch de Triomphe stands a torch. Every evening at 6:30 P.M. it is rekindled, and veterans lay wreaths decorated with red, white and blue near its flickering flame. It burns in the darkness to recall the sacrifice of an unknown French soldier who gave his life during World War I." ID: A Black man wearing a coat and glasses leans over a large pile of flowers toward a gas flame beside a white man with a black cap and white mustache. Behind the two men a crowd looks on. | U.S. Air Force, Wikimedia Commons | French Government"}}}