Military Service
Putnam joined the French Foreign Legion on 31 May 1917. He was transferred to the air service and trained at Avord. He was assigned to Escadrille SPA 94 on 12 December 1917, and was posted to SPA 156 on 7 February 1918. While with the latter unit, he shot down four planes before being transferred to SPA 38 on 1 June 1918, where he claimed two more planes shot down. He was discharged in June 1918.
When the United States entered the war, Putnam joined the United States Air Service as a first lieutenant and briefly assumed command of the 134th Aero Squadron before joining the 139th Aero Squadron as a flight commander.
While with the 139th, Putnam scored three victories before he was killed in action.
He wrote to Henry Gibson, director of Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires, where Putnam had been a camper and counsellor, "Can you imagine anyone falling 20,000 feet, nearly four miles, smashing a machine to kindling wood and only getting a broken tooth out of it all? No! Well, I am afraid you are going to try, for that is just what I did yesterday morning."
Read more about this topic: David Putnam
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