This is the wreckage and this is all about the Lafayette Escadrille.

On September 23, 1916, Rockwell spotted an observation plane while he was flying cover for a bombing raid against Germany. He dived at great speed, closing the 11,000 feet separating the two planes, and fired his gun just before a collision seemed certain. Soldiers on the ground thought that the German Albatross plane had been struck, but it was Rockwell’s Nieuport that crashed into a field of flowers behind French lines. When news of Rockwell’s death reached the squadron, the men mourned deeply. Friend and fellow squadron member James McConnell of Carthage in Moore County later wrote, “No greater blow could have befallen the escadrille.Kiffin was its soul.” Rockwell’s grave in France stands as a memorial to the brave Americans who fought not only for an ally but also for “the cause of humanity” in World War I.

More about Kiffin

The popularity of Kiffin Rockwell never seems to wane, even after all these years.

I still get messages regularly from kind folks having one thing or another to do with this fine American hero. Here's one I just happened to receive about five minutes ago:

I've sent a message before, but here's my webpage: www.valiantvolunteers.com. See and order my novel there. Kiffin was one of my favorite characters.

Thanks alot Terry.

Kiffin by plane.

The last time I was in Luxeuil-les-Bains, I visited the spot where Kiffin Yates Rockwell is buried. It was my second time there to give tribute to this fine hero after whom I am named. This time around I had brought my camcorder and took a short video. For those of you interested, here it is:

The quality of this video is not the greatest, but it is good enough.

Hopefully this video is instructive, not too morbid and gives one a better impression of what it is really like to be there. The video can also be seen on my Kiffin Yates web page.

Sorry, but you need a half-decent connection and Windows Media Player in order to view this.

Kiffin Rockwell scored the first victory by a member of the Escadille Americaine when he shot down a German reconnaissance airplane.

The Rockwell brothers, Paul and Kiffin, were idealistic that summer of 1914 when Europe exploded into war and the might of the German war machine fell on France.

When Germany declared war on France on the first day of August and sent its juggernaut rolling into the French countryside, 21-year-old Kiffin Rockwell was a student at Virginia Military Institute, and Paul, his 25-year-old brother, was a reporter on The Atlanta Constitution.

For the summer, Kiffin was home in their huge frame house on Hillside Street. On Aug. 1, he spent the evening talking about volunteering to fight for France, explaining that Americans would be accepted in the French Foreign Legion. He was deadly serious.

He called Germany the aggressor nation and France our sister nation that needed immediate help. "We can't sit back," he said, "and let the Kaiser take over the world."

In late July, when Germany's threats hung over France like an axe, Kiffin and Paul, both of whom loved France, had discussed the possibility of going to war if France's fears of a German attack were fulfilled.

Kiffin wrote the French consul in New Orleans, offering both himself and his brother to fight with the Foreign Legion. The consul wrote directly back and accepted the services of the Rockwell brothers. They were to report immediately to New York for embarkation for France.

Paul took his leave from the Constitution and hurried home from Atlanta and after both said their goodbyes they took the train for New York, shipped out for France, and went to war.

Upon arrival in France, Kiffin and Paul were taken directly into the French Foreign Legion. By November they had finished training and were sent into the trenches.

Kiffin wrote home that they were looked upon as mercenaries, but they felt anything but mercenary when payday arrived and they received one sou per day, which was about one American penny. They were paid every ten days, and three sous were automatically deducted for a tobacco allotment whether they smoked or not.

That's how the Rockwell brothers became the first Americans to fight for France, which made them also the first Americans to enter the World War.

Just before Christmas, Paul was severely wounded in trench warfare and was judged unfit for further infantry duty. Because of his journalistic background and his fluent French, he offered himself during his recovery to the Section d'Information of the French Army as a combat correspondent, and was accepted. He spent the remainder of the war in the role of war correspondent.

Kiffin continued to fight. On May 9, 1915, during a bayonet charge at La Targette, a German infantryman ran his bayonet through Kiffin's thigh, ending his fighting from the trenches.

He found something else to do, however, for there was talk of forming an American squadron in the French Air Service. He applied and was accepted, and the remainder of the story is history. He became the first American to shoot down a German fighter plane, and he became an original member of the famed Lafayette Escadrille. His commander, Capt. Georges Thenault, said he could confirm ten kills by Kiffin in aerial combat.

On Sept. 23, 1916, Kiffin received a hit in the chest by an exploding German cannon shell, fired from an enemy plane, and was killed. Paul said many times later than the shell that killed his brother was an illegal weapon.

Paul survived the war and lived to an old age. One of the highlights of my own journalistic career was sitting numerous times in the parlor of Colonel Rockwell's home on Hillside, listening to the yarns he spun about the World War and the daring escapades of the brave young men of the Lafayette Escadrille.

Taken from the article Brothers Fight for France.

You might also be interested in the article Kiffin Rockwell blazed a hero's path in World War I from the same newsletter.

More information can be found on my Kiffin Rockwell tribute page.

The Noon Patrol is a chapter project under the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 292 whose main activity is building replicas of the most famous WW1 flying machines like the Nieuport 11.

You might be curious to check out the 13 Nieuports on display.

Nieuport 11.

The following picture was taken at the most recent general meeting of the Association de l'Escadrille La Fayette, Souvenir Thenault - Rockwell:

This is a yearly ceremony given to the fallen heroes. A speical thanks go to Claude Louvigné (front right of the picture) for being so kind to send me this great snapshot.

You might want to check out my special tribute to Kiffin Rockwell for more information.

This is the house in Asheville, North Carolina where my hero Kiffin Yates Rockwell grew up.

Now if it weren't for Asheville, and if this house had never been built, and if the Rockwell family had never moved here, and if that garden had been planted a slightly different way, would I still be here? What about that tree in the front yard? The one that Kiffin had more than likely climbed alot during his childhood, slowly but surely collecting enough courage as he grew to adolescence, just the beginning of his brave and dauntless adventure at even higher altitudes where shooting down those Germans during WWI was such an important endeavor?

I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email the other day from a fellow Kiffin. There are not that many Kiffins out there, but what can you expect from a unique breed? He is yet another Kiffin who was also named after Kiffin Yates Rockwell. To make the coincidence even more amazing, it turns out that his father also read the very same book "They Fought for the Sky" as my father did. Both of them were so impressed that they decided to name their sons Kiffin. Small world where distant paths occasionally intersect in unexpected ways. Below is a picture that Kiffin took way back in the eighties which he thought I would be interested to see. And I most certainly am.

Historical marker in Asheville, North Carolina.

Alright so what if forty-five seems at first glance to be a nice round number? Divisible by nine and five and three and one. It comes in cycles and it is an interesting experience to be that old yet again. Half of ninety which defines about the end of the cycle whereas nine is only the beginning. A mid-point between nine and ninety, about. At least that is what I have been told.