World War I
Norman sailed to France in January 1915 and finally persuaded the French to allow the founding of the American Escadrille (squadron) in April 1916.
Captain Georges Thenault, the Escadrille's commander, credits Norman for conceiving the idea of bringing together his countrymen with some of those of the French Foreign Legion in a squadron of flyers to be initially known as the Escadrille Américaine. Elliott C. Cowdin, in an article which he published in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin (March 7, 1918) gave the full credit for the formation of this flying corps and for its incorporation in the French flying service to the energy and persistence of Norman Prince.
As an aviator, serving as a sergeant in the French air service, Norman Prince was involved in 122 aerial combat engagements in which he was officially credited with five victories. He was also thought to have brought down four additional hostile planes which were not confirmed. Note - Sources vary as to how many aerial victories Prince had. Estimates range from zero to five.
Prince was awarded the French Legion of Honor, Medaille Militare and Croix de Guerre.
On October 12, 1916 Prince flew as an escort for a bombing raid on the Mauser rifle works at Oberndorf, Germany during which he shot down an enemy plane. Returning to base, his landing wheels hit telegraph cables near his air base and his plane flipped over and crashed.
Prince was serverely injured and died on October 15, 1916. On his death bed he was promoted to sous lieutenant and awarded the Legion of Honor. His body was returned to the United States and buried in an elaborate tomb at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Read more about this topic: Norman Prince
Famous quotes containing the words war i, world war, world and/or war:
“It is well that war is so terrible: we would grow too fond of it!”
—Robert E. Lee (1807–1870)
“The descendants of Holy Roman Empire monarchies became feeble-minded in the twentieth century, and after World War I had been done in by the democracies; some were kept on to entertain the tourists, like the one they have in England.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just as at the end of all rivers is the sea. Can it be otherwise in a world where nothing lasts, where all that we have loved or shall love must die? Is death, then, the secret of life? The gloom of an eternal mourning enwraps, more or less closely, every serious and thoughtful soul, as night enwraps the universe.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)
“The myth of unlimited production brings war in its train as inevitably as clouds announce a storm.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)