Chapter IV
- Account of death from “Flying For France,” by James Rogers McConnell
- Captain Thénault’s speech at grave
- Two articles by Paul Scott Mowrer; Editorial from Charlestown News and Courier
- Article from L’Illustration
- Berlin dispatch to Journal de Genève
- Zundel’s letter.
III
Kiffin Rockwell’s death was recounted and commented upon by the press of every civilized country in the world. Of the thousands of articles written, none were finer or expressed with more feeling than two news stories by Paul Scott Mowrer cabled to the Chicago Daily News, and an unsigned editorial from the Charleston (South Carolina) News and Courier, which are reproduced below:
Paris, France, September 25.—When Kiffin Yates Rockwell, American airman in the service of France, and brother of Paul Ayres Rockwell, of the Daily News staff of war correspondents, fell in an aëroplane duel in the Vosges, his life ended as he himself would have preferred.
The death of a friend is always a shock, but Rockwell’s death was not a surprise. In tireless and excessive intrepidity he almost seemed to have courted it only as a means of fighting for the cause of France, which was dearer to him than life.
Since leaving the Foreign Legion for the air service, Rockwell had brought down four German aëroplanes officially and probably others which dropped uncounted inside the enemy lines. He had been decorated with the war cross and the military medal; he was frequently mentioned in the order of the day and he was recently proposed for promotion as lieutenant. While stationed in the Verdun region he was more hours in the air than any other aviator in the French Army. In a struggle of this kind such devotion and zeal have their price; it is invariably the bravest who fall.
Kiffin Yates Rockwell came of an old American Southern family with a French strain in its blood. His ancestors distinguished themselves in two wars. His own appearance did not belie his descent. Tall, straight and slender, with something of the look of the falcon in his sensitive face, he seemed at times the embodiment of the spirit of battle. His nerves were high strung, but always under the control of his unswerving will. He hid the fire of his emotions behind a smiling taciturnity.
Unlike most soldiers, he objected even to being talked about, and the publicity which the correspondents have given the American air squadron was abhorrent to him.
“Why should we be written up,” he would ask, almost fiercely, “for doing what our French comrades do as well every day?”
A few days ago he was in Paris and I had luncheon with him and his brother. At first he spoke little, but as the conversation turned on air-flights his eyes suddenly blazed, and smiling his peculiar smile, he said:
“We fly alone, while their pilots are accompanied by special machine-gun operators, yet it is a fair fight. Our superior skill and initiative make us a match for them.”
Later, he said, still in the same soft Georgian drawl:
“An aviator need not know much about the works of his machine. He only needs to know how to fly. The rest he can leave to his mechanic. Aviators who know too much about their craft are usually nervous. They understand what it means when the motor makes a funny noise. We others go on flying, blissfully ignorant and hoping for the best.”
Finally, we spoke of death, and I remarked:
“The man who enters this war should consider himself dead from that moment. Every day thereafter that he lives should be accounted as so much good luck—as so much to be grateful for.”
Rockwell made no answer but looked me straight in the eye with his mysterious smile. This man did not fear death, for he had faced it too often. He was brave among the brave, and besides, he loved the cause—the cause of France, which for him was the cause of all mankind.
By Paul Scott Mowrer.
(Special Cable to the Chicago Daily News)
Paris, September 29.—This is the story of how Kiffin Yates Rockwell died, as it was told to me by his brother, Paul, who has just returned from burying the heroic aviator.
The American air squadron was transferred recently from Verdun to a sector in Alsace, where the enemy, fearing raids into Germany, keep many of their fighting planes. Kiffin Rockwell was one of the first men ready for work in the new sector. He mounted two machine-guns on his aëroplane and last Saturday morning started out alone to look for German machines. He found one almost immediately. A new model Aviatik carrying a pilot and two gunners had flown inside the French lines.
Rockwell, from a superior height, swooped down upon the German machine. An infantry officer watching through glasses from the trenches heard the exchange of shots and saw the two machines rush swiftly together. For a moment he thought the German craft had been wrecked; then he saw the French machine tilt and plunge. One wing was torn off in the speed of the descent and drifted sideways for nearly a kilometer (more than half a mile) on the breeze, while the aëroplane itself, from a height of three and a half kilometers (two miles) dropped like a stone and struck near a little wood just behind the lines.
The Germans had seen the occurrence and began to bombard the spot. Nevertheless, some soldiers ran out and, braving the shells, found that the machine in falling had dug a hole in the ground a yard deep and several yards wide.
Two soldiers carried the body of the aviator into the trenches, where a doctor certified that Rockwell had been shot through the chest with an explosive bullet and had died instantly. An ordinary bullet would probably only have wounded him. This bullet, bursting as it did, tore a fearful gash.
News of Rockwell’s death spread quickly. Lufbery, another American, who had started out at the same time that Rockwell did, but in a different direction, had exhausted his ammunition in a desperate fight with three German machines and had been forced to land. The wings of his machine were full of holes, but on learning his comrade’s fate he borrowed a fresh belt of cartridges and rose again immediately in a vain effort to overtake the fatal Aviatik.
When Rockwell’s body was brought into the camp the squadron captain called the men together and after praising the dead American in the highest terms said that, however great their grief at losing a man who had been a noble example and a true friend to every one, their entire effort must now be devoted to avenging him. All then swore an oath of vengeance.
A French lieutenant, who frequently flew with Rockwell and was his most constant friend and admirer, wept like a child. Indeed, every man wept, for Rockwell had been the life and soul of the squadron. In a single month at Verdun he had fought thirty-four victorious fights, often against odds. He had brought down two Germans inside the French lines, two near the trenches and about six inside the German lines.
Some days before his death he had specified that if he should be killed by the Germans, whatever money was found on him should be used by the squadron to drink to the destruction of the Germans. This was solemnly done. A bottle of old Bourbon whisky which had been given Rockwell by an American in Paris, will be opened hereafter when members of the squadron bring down Germans. On these occasions a few drops will be poured out for the victor in honor of Rockwell’s memory and then the bottle will be resealed.
Three Americans flew out on Sunday morning, bent on vengeance, but were unable to find a German machine.
In a cemetery near the front, Kiffin Yates Rockwell was buried with full military honors. Several well-known aviators followed the flower-decked gun carriage, which bore the coffin wrapped in a flag, on which were pinned the victim’s medals. One famous flyer said that Rockwell’s death was the severest loss French aviation had suffered in many a day.
Paul Rockwell has brought back to Paris a small box in which are a few pathetic articles his brother had on him at the time of his death. Among them are the war cross and the military medal, a fountain pen, some personal letters, an unbroken wrist-watch, which had stopped at 9:50 o’clock, and a silver cigarette case, crushed and bent fantastically.
There are also a few pressed crocuses, for it was in a bank of these flowers beside a tinkling stream in a gentle Alsatian valley, not far from Thann, that the aviator’s body was found.
“He always said that in case of death he wished to be buried where he fell,” Paul Rockwell told me. “There is no lovelier spot in the world. I have marked it carefully and after the war I shall remove him from the cemetery to that flowery bank. I hope then to be able to pass a part of every year near him there.”
By Paul Scott Mowrer.
(Special Cable to the Chicago Daily News)
An Unsigned Editorial From The Charleston
“News and Courier”
Kiffin Rockwell of Atlanta, who met his death Saturday morning in an aerial duel with a German airman must have had in his veins the blood of some knight-errant of the age of chivalry. Why should this young Southerner have given his gallant life to France? Perhaps because this splendid France of to-day stirred his imagination so powerfully that he could do nothing less than offer her his sword as Lafayette offered us his in our fight for liberty. Perhaps because he was one of those restless spirits to which life without adventure is but a sad and monotonous pilgrimage.
At any rate, he has met the end that comes to most knights-errant whether they are spurred on by loyalty to some fine ideal or whether their incentive is simply that lust for adventure that all men possess in greater or less degree. Yet before the end came to him, how wonderful was the life that he contrived to live in this age of the world that only a little while ago seemed to be of all ages the least fruitful of perilous adventure. He had fought with the Foreign Legion until that famous organization was practically wiped out. Transferred then, at his own request, to the flying corps, he had engaged in thirty-four battles in the air in less than as many days. The military medal was his—in honor of a notable air victory last May. He had enjoyed the amazing experience of combat in the clouds with a hostile air cruiser while beneath him on the earth raged the momentous battle of Verdun, the greatest battle that the world had ever seen. He had been a participant in what was perhaps the most marvelous episode of a war which has been an uninterrupted succession of marvels—a general fleet action in the air between almost the whole Franco-American squadron of aerial cruisers and a strong force of German aircraft. When the end came for him in combat with a German airman over Alsace, he was playing a part in another episode scarcely less wonderful—an expedition of air cruisers against one of the strongholds of the enemy.
We are all creatures of circumstance and of environment. Many and various, and in most cases humdrum and commonplace enough, are the activities of the modern prototypes of those young Southerners who rode with Stuart and Hampton. But that is not true of all of them. One of them has just ridden to a soldier’s death on a steed swifter than the finest charger that ever bore Jeb Stuart to battle.
IV
The following article is representative of the comment by the French Press, L’Illustration, Oct. 6, 1916, on Kiffin Rockwell:
L’Aviateur Kiffin Rockwell Mort Pour La France
L’Aviateur américain, Kiffin Rockwell, a été tué dans un combat aérien près de Thann. Il avait vingt-quatre ans. Il appartenait à une des families les plus connues et les plus estimées de la Caroline du Nord. Il avait fait des brillantes études à l’Institut Militaire de Washington et Lee Université de Virginie.
Le jour de la déclaration de guerre, son frère Paul et lui écrivaient à notre consul à la Nouvelle Orléans pour offrir leurs services a la France. Le 7 Août, ils s’embarquaient à New York, et le 27 Août il s’engageaient dans la Légion Etrangère. Ils firent la guerre ensemble sur l’Aisne et en Champagne, pui sils se separèrent. Kiffin Rockwell alla dans l’Artois. En Avril, 1915, il écrivait à son frère, resté dans le secteur de . . .: “Si la France devait être vaincue j’aimerais mieux mourir.”
Le 9 Mai de la même année il était grièvement blessé dans l’assaut qui nous rendait maîtres de la Targette.
À peine guéri il entrait dans l’aviation, où il retrouvait ses amis Thaw et Chapman. Ses rares qualités de sangfroid, d’habilité et de courage en faisaient rapidement un pilote accompli. Cinq jours après son arrivée au front, il abattait son premier avion allemand, près de l’Hartmannsweilerkopf. Il partait pour Verdun…. En un seul mois, il livrait trente-quatre combats. Un jour il attaquait seul trois avions ennemis; il était blessé à la tête, mais il sortait vainqueur de la rencontre, ayant obligé un de ses adversaires à atterrir. Le 8 Septembre, il abattait un autre avion allemand qui tombait à Vauquois.
Le 23 Septembre, il trouvait une mort glorieuse sur les lignes d’Alsace.
Le jour de ses obsèques, le capitaine de son escadrille me disait: “Je n’ai jamais connu de meilleur pilote, de soldat plus brave, ni de nature plus généreuse et plus simple.” Son camarade de combat, le Lieutenant de Laage, ajoutait: “Kiffin ignorait le danger et la peur. Il allait au combat comme à une fête. Tous nous l’aimions et l’admirions.”
Kiffin Rockwell avait reçu la Médaille Militaire et la Croix de Guerre. Il avait trois citations magnifiques. Il avail été nommé sous-lieutenant, mais sa nomination n’est parvenue à son unité qu’après sa mort.
Le nom de ce jeune héros vivra dans le souvenir ému et reconnaissant de la France.
V
The news of Kiffin Rockwell’s death aroused great interest in Germany, as is evidenced by the following dispatch from Berlin to the Journal de Genève:
L’Aviatic Escadrille Américaine—et l’Opinion en Allemagne
La nouvelle que le fameux aviateur américain Rockwell a été tué sur le front occidental, où il se trouvait au service des Alliés, a causé en Allemagne une très vive impression.
“Cette nouvelle,” écrit la Deutsche Tageszeitung, “mérite la plus grande attention. Il ne s’agit pas d’un cas isolé, c’est toute une division d’aviateurs américains qui se sont mis au service de nos ennemis. L’Amérique ne se contente pas de nous combattre en cachette dans la question des sous-marins. Elle participe, désormais, d’une manière active, à la lutte contre nous. Les États-Unis favorisent donc notre ennemi d’une manière contraire à la neutralité. L’Amérique doit savoir notre profonde indignation; elle doit aussi savoir que nous considérons cette participation de ses citoyens a la guerre contre nous comme une provocation directe.”
Sur le même objet le Lokal Anzeiger, en annonçant que sur le front de Verdun il y a un aviatic squadron américain, rappelle les concessions faites par l’Allemagne à l’Amérique par gain de paix et pour éviter des victimes humaines.
“Or, l’Amérique non seulement profile de ces concessions pour continuer à fournir des munitions et des armes à l’Entente, mais elle en abuse. Des Américains peuvent rejoindre les armées ennemies et y occuper des positions importantes.”
Le journal parle de l’esprit d’aventure des Américains; mais on pouvait croire “entre personnes comme il faut” que les concessions accordées auraient mis un frein à l’esprit d’aventure et empêché de franchir les limites de la plus élémentaire neutralité.
VI
After the Armistice, when it was possible to approach the spot where Kiffin Rockwell crashed to earth with his aëroplane, the Alsatian officers who had volunteered in the French Army erected there a commemorative cross. This letter, from Lieutenant Auguste Zundel, of Thann, describes the simple ceremony:
Service des Renseignements,
Belfort, le 25 Decembre, 1918.
Cher Monsieur Rockwell:
J’ai profité hier matin d’un passage à Rodern pour aller planter la croix avec la plaque à l’endroit où est tombé votre frère. Tous mes camarades Alsaciens m’ont accompagné pour rendre les honneurs à cet ami américain tombé, en Alsace, pour que l’Alsace redevienne française. Nous avons été heureux de pouvoir, en quelque sorte, lui en exprimer ainsi notre reconnaissance.
Le but de notre voyage était de passer la veille de Noël à Mulhouse, pour la première fois depuis cinq ans. Nous ne pouvions mieux faire que de nous rendre auparavant à Rodern pour en rendre hommage à votre frère.
Mes camarades se joignent à moi pour vous faire parvenir nos très cordiales salutations et l’expression de nos sentiments les meilleurs.
A. Zundel.
Ci-joint un croquis de l’emplacement.
[Translation]
Service des Renseignements,
Belfort, le 25 Decembre, 1918.
Dear Mr. Rockwell:
Yesterday morning I took advantage of my passage through Rodern to go and plant the cross, with a plate, on the spot where your brother fell. All my Alsatian comrades accompanied me to render homage to our American friend who had fallen, in Alsace, that Alsace might once more become French. We were pleased to be able, in some way, to prove to him our gratitude.
The object of our journey was to spend Christmas Eve at Mulhouse, for the first time in five years. We could not do better than go first to Rodern to pay our respects to your brother.
My comrades unite with me in sending our most cordial salutations and the expression of our best sentiments.
A. Zundel.
Herewith sketch of the piece of ground.