Later, his unpublished autobiography would be titled “All Blood Runs Red.”Īmerica declared war in the spring of 1917. Bullard flew a SPAD VII that was decorated on the fuselage with a bleeding heart stabbed with a knife and the words “All Blood that Flows is Red” in French. Accompanying him on every combat flight was a lucky charm tucked inside his coat-his pet Capuchin monkey named Jimmy. He earned his wings in the summer of 1917, and during the fall was assigned to the famous Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron composed of American volunteers and French military aviators.īullard flew around 20 missions in the approximately 90 days he was an active pilot, and got two unconfirmed kills. Bullard talked to the commanders and they transferred him to pilot training. One of Bullard’s friends told him that since he could no longer serve with the infantry, he should try to become a gunner. In 1917 there were several black air gunners in France’s “Army of the Air” (Armée l’Air, it became a separate air force in 1933). The doctors thought he would never walk again. Bullard served as a machine gunner in his infantry regiment until he was injured at Verdun in 1916. At age 19 he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion to fight for his adopted country. By the time he was 15 he was making a name for himself as a boxer in England and France. Born in Georgia, he determined at the age of 8 that he would leave the South for a place that he would not be treated differently because of the color of his skin. These pilots flew for different countries and did not know of each other, and little is known about most of them.Įugene Bullard lived a fascinating life. There were around five black military pilots in World War I, and Bullard was the only American. Eugene Bullard (1895 – 1961) was among the first black military pilots in the world.
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