On July 20, 1917, Eugene Bullard became a pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corps.
Eugene Bullard was the grandson of a slave. He was the seventh child of a poor family in the American South. At age ten, he witnessed the near lynching of his father. Determined to escape racism, he stowed away on a cargo ship and ended up in Great Britain. He took up boxing at age 16 and was a lightweight champion by age 18. He was in France when WWI broke out and he joined the French Foreign Legion. He fought on the Western Front and was wounded three times, the last seriously at Verdun. When he recuperated, he joined the French Air Service and became the first black fighter pilot. He flew with his pet monkey Jimmy. His fighter plane had the slogan: “Tout sang que coule est rouge” (“All blood runs red”). He flew numerous missions and shot down two German planes, although his victories were not confirmed. After one successful dogfight, he landed with over 90 bullet holes in his plane. He was referred to as the “Black Swallow of Death”. He wanted to join the American Army Air Corps, but was turned down because he was black. He was awarded a bunch of French medals, including the Croix de Guerre. After the war, he played in a jazz band in Paris and eventually owned the night club. He was friends with Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Langston Hughes. Ernest Hemingway had a minor character based on him in his novel “The Sun Also Rises”. With WWII approaching, he joined French intelligence to offer his services spying on Germans who came to his club. When France was invaded, he fought and was wounded. He was able to escape back to America. When the eternal flame at the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was relit in 1954, Bullard was invited back to Paris to help in the ceremony. He left his job as an elevator operator in New York City to attend.
https://www.historynet.com/eugene-bullard-worlds-first-black-pilot.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard
The Greatest War Stories Never Told pp. 138-139
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