Jack was a special American, but unfortunately, the folks in his hometown and in his home country would not allow him to prove that to them while he was alive, so as a 17-year-old in 1912, he decided to go elsewhere to make a better life for himself.  He stowed away on a merchant ship that was headed for Scotland, became a successful prize fighter and fought his way to stardom in the boxing rings of Europe.   When WWI started in 1914, he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and eventually transferred to the 170th Infantry Regiment, where for two years he manned a machine gun in the wet and bloody, battlefield trenches of the Western Front.  Thousands of soldiers on both sides of this terrible conflict died, and Jack came close to death himself on more than one occasion.  Finally, while delivering messages on the battlefield, he was seriously wounded in his thigh and spent months recovering in a French hospital.  Though Jack survived his injury, it had made him a disabled veteran who could no longer provide service as an infantryman, but it earned him the gratitude of the French government, which awarded him the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War), which was also adorned with the Bronze Star because his heroic actions had been mentioned in dispatches at the regimental or brigade level.

This American could have returned to a quieter life after serving the cause of freedom, but he wasn't ready to quit yet.  The French Army was looking for pilots for their new air force, and Jack signed up and successfully completed his flight training.  He became one of the 269 Americans assigned to the Lafayette Flying Corps of the French Air Service, where he flew Nieuport and Spad aircraft on 20 combat missions, during which he has been credited with shooting down at least two German planes.  When America entered the war in 1917, Jack applied for transfer to the United States Army Air Service, but he was turned down simply because of the color of his skin, for you see, Jack was the son of a black man and a Creek Indian woman, and our armed forces were not yet racially integrated.  Nevertheless, Jack, who was born Eugene Jacques Bullard in Columbus, Georgia, rose above his country's discrimination and distinguished himself as the world's very first black aviator, being one of only two black men to fly in the defense of freedom in WWI, and who was awarded 14 additional medals for his military service.

After WWI, Jack married into a wealthy French family, had two daughters, and operated a popular nightclub in Paris, where his clientele included both movie stars and princes.  During WWII, he first spied on the Germans for the allies and then fought with the French infantry until he was wounded again.  He fled occupied France and ended up in New York City, where he died of stomach cancer in 1961.  He reportedly visited his old hometown before his death to reconnect with his family, but he was unable to locate any of them.  Of course, times have changed since Jack left Columbus in 1912, and this special American is now appropriately remembered and revered by his hometown and his native land.  You may find his story in the 2007 book Columbus Connections, by Lynn Willoughby, and a prominent plaque that tells about Jack is now affixed to the wall in the lobby of the Columbus Metro Airport.  In 1994, he was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, and the 2006 movie, Flyboys, which I highly recommend, loosely portrays Jack and his American comrades who valiantly flew for the French in WWI.  -  Your Bud         

"A Scout should Be Prepared, a Marine should be Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful), and a "G-Man" should be dedicated to Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity (FBI), but only trust in The Good Lord can make that happen."