I learned of this WW-I squadron when I attended the premier showing of The Millionaires Unit film in New York City recently – see my report here. Now Diana and I are once again in Paris attending to our duties of apartment and pet sitting for our Paris friends as they travel to the US. So I was able to head off to explore this site.
Unlike most monuments and memorials in Paris, this one is well off the beaten path and not likely to be visited by a typical tourist. It is off to the west of Paris, and a GPS mapping and a train/bus journey takes you to the front of a hospital. The bus driver let me off there and I asked further directions from the security people at the entrance to the hospital. They directed me to a forested area across the street, thru the gate, and then to the left. This led to a dirt trail through the forest and beside a large pond. None of this was developed for tourist transit but was quite a lovely walk. Eventually, I could see a large structure across the pond and through the trees and I knew this must be the place — No signs as yet.
At last I found a bridge crossing the pond and then found a large meadow with the Lafayette Escadrille memorial on the far side.
There were a few people at the memorial setting up some sort of sound system, so I proceeded on my tour. I was soon approached by a man who introduced himself with a very distinct American English voice. Keith is the Superintendent of the site which has just recently been transitioned from a privately owned American memorial to being administered and maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
Keith gave me a tour of the site which includes a crypt containing 62 airmen who died fighting in the skies over France in World War I. Sixty of these sixty two are American, with the other two being the French commanders.
As I said, it was somewhat of a task in finding this site, but the journey back to the apartment was far more arduous. I got tangled up in the Paris transit system and wandered around in a very large and complex train station with tunnels going every which way and signs with no familiar names. But I survived all that and here I am writing this post for you my dear readers – such sacrifice.
France 2019 