Raoul Lufbery |
Born in France to an American father and French mother,
Raoul Lufbery is one of the most famous American pilots of the First World War,
an ace with at least 17 combat victories.
Early in his military career, he served in the Philippines as a rifleman
in the U.S. Army from 1907 – 1909, but when war broke out in Europe, he joined
the French Foreign Legion and trained as a pilot. Lufbery flew with the
Lafayette Escadrille, and after American joined the war, he was commissioned in
the U.S. Army Air Service, where he instructed new pilots, among them Eddie
Rickenbacker.
According to American pilot Bert Hall, Lufbery “rode the
skies like a fighting demon” and “was always looking for a good scrap.”* Hall
also described Lufbery as “a mushroom hound,” for “Every time it rains, he goes
out and gathers some mushrooms. The
French say he is going on a reconnaissance
des champignons.”**
To Edwin C. Parsons, another pilot with the Escadrille who
frequently flew as his wingman, Lufbery was “one of the most tragically
outstanding figures of the war in the air.” In his memoir, Parsons wrote,
To me, Luf was one of the great
mysteries of the war. No man alive can
truthfully say that he knew him. I ate,
slept, drank and fought beside him for months on end. I discussed combat tactics and played bridge
and went on binges with him…. I was in daily contact with a figure of flesh and
blood, but know him? Not a chance. In
contrast to him, the Sphinx was a child’s primer. He kept his real self shut up like a clam in
a shell. He was a man seemingly devoid
of fear or, in fact, emotion of any kind.
But what a man he was in the air!
He had forgotten more about combat flying than most men ever knew.”***
To a Young Aviator
When you go up to die
Some not far distant day,
I wonder will you try
Unidentified Pilot, by Eric Kennington National Museums of Scotland |
To tear your mask away,
And look life in the eyes
For once without disguise?
Behind your mask may hide
What treacherous, covered fires!
What hidden torturing pride!
What sorrow, what desires!
What sorrow, what desires!
Whatever there may be
There will be none to see.
Yet I think when you meet
Death coming through the skies,
Calmly his face you’ll greet,
Coldly, without surprise;
Then die without a moan,
Still masked although alone.
—Aline
Kilmer
Although it’s highly unlikely that the poem was written
specifically for Lufbery, “To a Young Aviator” is an apt memorial for him and all the pilots of the First World War.
The poem captures the cool courage of the fliers, as well as the solitary
loneliness of the job.
Aline Kilmer |
Aline Kilmer is almost unknown today as a writer. Her
husband was the American poet Joyce Kilmer (best known for his poems “Trees”
and “The Rouge Bouquet”). Joyce enlisted in the A.E.F. in April of 1917, but just weeks before he left for
France, the couple’s daughter Rose died in early September of 1917. Left with four small children and mourning the loss of her eldest daughter, Aline Kilmer would
also have been well-acquainted with death and loneliness. In early 1918, she wrote another poem:
In Spring
I do not know which is worse when you are away:
Long grey days with the lisping sound of the rain
And then when the lilac dusk is beginning to fall
The thought that perhaps you may never come back again;
Or days when the world is a shimmer of blue and gold,
Sparkling newly all in the dear spring weather,
When with a heart that is torn apart by pain
I walk alone in ways that we went together.
Joyce Kilmer was killed by a sniper at the Second Battle of the Marne on July 30th, 1918.
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* Bert Hall, One Man’s
War: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille, H. Holt, 1929, pp. 135, 144. 167.
** Hall, One Man’s
War, p. 167.
*** Edwin C. Parsons, The
Great Adventure: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille, Doubleday, Doran
& Co., 1937, pp. 72-73.
Another great post and poetry. I really enjoy the context you provide to the poems. I was not familiar with Aline Kilmer. I wonder what prompted her to write a poem dedicated to the combat pilots?
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ReplyDeleteThank you for another wonderful post. I love the work of Aline Kilmer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
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