T he P ortland O bserver • M arch 1, 1995
P age B7
BLACK HISTORY
(E h e ^ p o r t l a t r b Q D b s e r u e r
All Blood Runs Red
Gene Bullard
by
J amie H. C ockfield
Gene Bullard went to war with
this slogan painted on his plan. He
was Am erica’s first black aviator -
but he did not fly for America.
His flying career already beh ind
him, Bullard wears the uniform o f
the French 170th Infantry and the
Croix de Guerre awarded him for
gallantry at Verdun in this 1917 por­
trait.
America’ s first black aviator,
Eugene Jacques Bullard, flew not for
his own country but for France, for
which he was wounded and almost
died. Gene Bullard wore fifteen
French medals and decorations, and
although he was buried in the United
States, it was in a French military
cemetery and in a French uniform.
He served France not because he did
not wish to serve his own nation, but
because to the French the color o f his
skin did not matter. To the leaders o f
his own nation, it did.
Bullard began as a young ado­
lescent an argosy that carried him all
over the American Southeast. He
walked, hopped freight trains, trav­
eled endlessly, not knowing where
he was going. He worked odd jobs on
farms in Georgia, Alabama, and fi­
nally Virginia, where at Newport
News he found his big ocean He
sneaked aboard a German freighter
headed for Europe, but he was dis­
covered two days out and put o ff in
Aberdeen, Scotland. He did not re­
turn to his native land for almost
thirty years
B ullard was puzzled by the
Scots, and they by him. Most had
never seen a black man, and he was
stared at on the streets. Yet he was
never mistreated. People would
approach him, shake hands, and in­
vite him home to tea He had trouble
understanding their language, which
to him it was “ sort o f like English
and made him feel as i f he were hard
o f hearing.
Young Bullard held a number o f
jobs in Scotland; then he moved to
Liverpool, England, where he worked
as the live target in a penny-a-throw
carnival sideshow, a jo b that paid
two shillings a week-money enough
to allow him free time, which he
spent at a local gym, running errands
and doing odd jobs for the fighters.
His quick, warm smile and sunny
nature made him popular, and one o f
the boxers, Aaron Lester Brown-the
“ D ixie K id’’-took Bullard under his
wing and taught him how to fight.
Bullard had bouts in London and
even North Africa; then, late in Octo­
ber 1913, D ixie booked him to fight
Georges Forrest in the Elysee
Montmartre in Paris. Bullard was
just nineteen.
In his autobiography Bullard
wrote. “ When I got o ff the boat train
in Paris, I was as excited as a kid on
Christmas morning.” When Dixie
asked him how he felt, he could only
say, “ I am happy, happy, happy."
A fter winning the fight on points, he
went back across the Channel, pre­
pared to do anything to return to
France. He joined a traveling road
show
c a lle d
F reeshm an’ s
Pickaninnies, a slapstick comedy
group with which he went to Berlin
and even Russia. When the show got
to Paris, he deserted.
France was every thing his father
had said it would be. For the first time
he I i ved among white people who did
not pay special attention to the color
o f his skin He learned the language
quickly, and with it and some Ger­
man he had picked up in Berlin he
became an interpreter for foreign
boxers. He led a happy life until the
follow ing August, when the Great
War began
By late 1914 the French nation
had sustained a half-m illion casual­
The Saturday Evening Post. Describ­
ing Bullard as “ a great young black
Hercules, a monument o f trained
muscle,” Irwin observed that a year
and a h a lf o f war had made o f him a
“ strange creature," not at all like “ the
negro we knew at home.” War had
given Bullard “ that air o f authority
common to all soldiers... He looked
you in the eye and answered you
straight with replies that carried their
own conviction o f truth .” Irw in not­
ed that the “ democracy” o f the French
Army had rubbed o ff on Bullard, and
he had grown accustomed to looking
on white men as equals. There was
already a trace o f French accent in
Bullard’s rich Southern black speech,
said Irwin, and when he grew excit­
ed, he slipped easily into French.
In Lyons Bullard began to think
about becoming a flier. M ilita ry avi­
ation was still new, and infirm ities
that would keep one out o f the trench­
es might hot prevent a soldier from
taking to the air: The leading British
ace was blind in one eye; his French
counterpart had been rejected for
service in the trenches. In the Nesme
home Bullard met Commandant
Ferroline, the head o f the French air
base at Brun. One night Ferroline
asked Bullard what his plans were
for the remainder o f the war.
When he expressed uncertainty,
Ferroline offered to have him trans­
ferred to the French A ir Service.
Bullard was ecstatic. “ Imagine hear­
ing that you really might have the
opportunity to be the first Negro
m ilitary pilot.”
He was soon told to report to
Cazaux, near Bordeaux, on October
16, 1916, and then to training at
Tours. He received his flying certif­
icate on May 5,1917, an two months
later he was sent to Avord, the largest
air school in France, where he was
put in charge o f the sleeping quarters
for an outfit made up o f American
flying for France. One American who
Belleville, a trainingschool near Paris
and a last stop on the way to the front.
He was assigned in August to Spa 93,
his unit in the French A ir Service,
which operated in the region o f
Verdun-Vadelaincourt-Bar-le-Duc,
an area known by the fliers stationed
there as “ a little comer o f Hell,” and
several weeks later he was trans­
ferred to the nearby Spa 85, where he
remained until he left the French A ir
Service.
On the fuselage o f his Spad
Bullard had painted a bleeding heart
pierced by a knife under which were
written the words.Tout le Sang qui
coule est rouge! (which his biogra­
phers generally translate as “ A lI blood
is red ” ) He was a celebrity now,
mobbed by American newspaper re­
porters, and this newfound fame may
have prompted him to make the first
contact with his father since he had
run away. He wrote to Columbus,
begging Octave Bullard’s forgive­
ness for his disappearance. His fa­
ther replied, granting that forgive­
ness but also giving his son the grim
news that the Georgia he had left had
changed little. Gene’ s brother Hec­
tor, who had dared to claim publicly
some land he had acquired in Peach
County, and a mob had lynched him.
Bu I lard’ s first fl ight orders came
for September 8,1917. He was to fly
reconnaissance over the city o f Metz.
When he saw his name posted, he felt
that he was "headed for heaven, hell,
or glory" but also felt “ ready for any
thing.” He went up that day and from
then on never missed a sortie.
In his fly in g career Bullard
scored two “ kills,” but only one o f
them was confirmed. He wrote that
the fir s t was fro m Baron von
Richthofen’s Flying Circus, but the
hit was unverified because the Fokker
crashed behind enemy lines. No doubt
Bullard had shot down an enemy
plane, but it could not have been
from the ed Baron's squadron, for he
skin [that kept me out o f the Arm y
A ir Corps]?” It would be sixteen
years before the American govern­
ment commissioned a black aviator.
Not long after this bitter episode
Bullard was hurt again, this time by
the nation he had come to call his
mistress. On November 11, 1917, he
was summarily removed from the
French A ir Service, and five days
later he was transferred to his old
170th Infantry unit, where he per­
formed menial, noncombat jobs in
one o fits service units until the end o f
the war
Bullard stayed in France after
the war, trying his hand at a number
o f things. He wanted to resume his
fighting career, but his war wounds
prevented that. He took up the drums
and eventually assembled his own
band, which played in nightclubs in
the Montmartre section o f Paris; he
managed a nightclub and laterowned
his own bar and his own gym for
fighters. Those interwar years were
good ones for blacks in Paris, and
many A frica n-A m erican s-a rtists,
w riters, and perform ers-follow ed
Bullard’s example and went there to
live, form ing what the French called
the culte des negres and the tumulte
noir. A t one point B ullard gave
Langston Hughesajob washingdish-
es. For what was probably the first
time in his life, Bullard was making
a good living.
It was in these years that he
married and started a family. His
painter friend G ilbert White had in­
troduced him to Louis A lbert de
Straumann and his wife, the Count­
ess Helene Heloise Charlotte de
Pochinot, and after the war he be­
came a frequent v is ito r to the
Straumann home, w here he met their
only daughter, Marcelle. According
to his autobiography, he did not un­
derstand the feelings that had come
over him. When Marcelle was not
with him. he felt “ lonely and un­
served there wrote: “ This democracy
is a fine thing in the army and it
makes better men o f all hands. For
instance, the corporal in our room is
an American, as black as the ace o f
spades, but a mighty white fellow at
that. The next two bunks to his are
occupied by princeton men o f old
southern families; they talk more like
a darky than he does and are the best
o f friends to him.”
Bullard always made a strong
ties, and among them were a number
o f Bullard’s friends. His fondness positive impression on those he met.
for them and for his new country James Norman Hall and Charles
spurred him to jo in the Foreign Le­ Bernard Nordhoff, the future authors
gion. and he was inducted into the o f The Bounty Trilogy, also wrote
French Arm y on October 19, 1914. about the air war. One o f them was
A fter hasty training Bullard was as­ waiting one day in the office o f Dr.
signed to the 170th Infantry,.which Edmund Gros, the American admin-
contained fifty-fo ur different nation­ istratorofthe Lafayette FlyingCorps-
the most famous unit o f Americans
alities.
His first major action was the flying for France-when the young
Battle o f Artois, in which the French black pilot entered. He described the
sustained 175,000 casualties in two scene: “ Suddenly the door opened to
days, for a net gain o f only one and a admit a vision o f m ilitary splendor
h a lf miles o f ground. O f the 4.000 such as one does not see twice in a
legionnaires who went into action, lifetime. It was Eugene Bullard. His
only 1,700 answered roll call the jo lly black face shone with a grin o f
next day. Bullard went on to fight in greeting and justifiable vanity. He
Champagne and. like almost every wore a pair o f tan aviator’s boots
soldier in the French army, at Verdun. which gleamed with a m irror-like
In spite o f a competitive nature luster, and above them his breeches
honed by his boxing career, Bullard smote the eye with a dash o f vivid
did not like killin g: “ Every time the scarlet. His black tunic, excellently
sergeant yelled Feu!’ I go sicker and cut and set o ff by a fine figure, was
sicker. They had wives and children, decorated with a pilo t's badge, a
Croix de Guerre, the fourragere o f
hadn't they?”
It was here in 1916 that Bullard the Foreign Legion, and a pair o f
received the wound that removed enormous wings, w hich left no possi­
him from the ground war. He was ble doubt, even at a distance o f fifty
leaving the I ine to get reinforcements feet, as to which arm o f the Service
when a German shell exploded near­ he adorned. The eleves-pilotes
by, and he felt a terrific blow against gasped, the eyes o f the neophytes
his left leg and was knocked uncon­ stood out from their heads, and I
scious. When he revived, he had a repressed a strong instinct to stand at
hole in his left thigh and “ was not attention.”
Yet no orders came for Bullard.
expecting to get very far before re­
ceiving a surplus hole somewhere Other Americans who had joined the
else.” After spending a day in a dis­ French A ir Service after him passed
abled ambulance. Bullard was even­ through the barracks he supervised
tually taken to a hotel turned hospital on their way to the front, but Bullard
in Lyons. A wealthy local family, the remained In time he began to hear
Nesmes, had offered their home as a that Dr Gros opposed the idea o f
convalescent center and took Bui lard blacks in the flying corps, and he was
in after he was able to walk There he the chief reason that Bullard was not
met Lyons society and many influen­ given an assignment.
Annoyed. Bullard threatened to
tial friends o f the family, who warmed
call
his
influential French friends. He
to the big, cordial American
was
forbidden
to do so, but someone
Bullard gained his first bit o f
called
on
his
behalf,
and finally he
fame during his convalescence when
was
ordered
to
report
to Le Plessis
he was interviewed by W ill Irw in for
neveroperated in the Verdun sector.
Afterthe flight that day Bullard count­
ed seventy-eight bullet holes in his
plane.
His second k ill, early in Novem­
ber 1917, however, was definite. On
one o f those cold, misty days typical
ofnortheastem France in the late fall,
he was patrolling twelve thousand
feet over Verdun when his squadron
was jum ped by German Pfalzes.
Bullard singled out an enemy plane
and attacked: his intended victim went
into an Immelmann turn, flying nose
up and then turning backward, to
come in from behind. Bullard dodged
into a cloud bank. When he emerged,
his foe was above him to the right,
but Bullard was ableto pull in behind
him and bring him down.
Whatever pleasure he took in
his victory was dashed once again,
however-flrst by America, then by
France.
Between the wars Bullard had
several jobs, including managing a
nightclub called Le Grand-Due,
where he made him self at home.
After the United States entered
the war in A p ril 1917. the govern­
ment extended an invitation to all
Americans flying for France to ac­
cept commissions in the Arm y A ir
Corps; aviators had only to apply and
pass physical. Bullard sent in an ap­
plication and was invited to Paris for
the examination. The physical was
conducted by five uniformed doc­
tors. They had Bullard's record be­
fore them, yet they asked all sorts o f
questions that were unrelated to his
health, such as "Where did you learn
to fly ? " as though his papers had
somehow been falsified.
Bullard pointed out that he had
been in many dog-fights. They gave
him his physical and announced that
he had flat feet. He said he did not fly
with his feet He then learned that he
had large tonsils. He said he had
never lost one day flying because o f
throat trouble. They said he was
colorblind but finally approved him.
And that was the last Bullard ever
heard from the American govern­
ment.
Y ears la te r, a fte r E le an or
Roosevelt wrote o f Bullard in her
column “ My Day," he sent her a note
o f thanks and asked rhetorically,
“ Was it my flat feet or the color o f my
easy” ; when they were together, he
felt “ happy all over.” Finally he re­
vealed his feelings to the Straumanns,
expressing the fear that he was “ cra­
zy.” Both parents broke into laughter
at how long it had taken him to dis­
cover that he w as in love; their daugh­
ter had realized it long before.
The two were married on July
17, 1923. at the mairie o f the Tenth
Arrondissement. The wedding caused
some buzzing, not because Bullard
was black and his bride was white,
but because she was so socially prom­
inent and he was unknown. The cou­
ple honey-mooned in Biarritz. Elev­
en months later their firs t child,
Jacqueline, was bom, followed in
1926 by a son, Eugene Jr., who lived
only a few months. A second daugh­
ter, Lolita Josephine, was bom in
December o f that year.
Bullard was very happy at first,
but as the decade wore on, his mar­
riage soured Marcelle. wealthy in
her own right, wanted her husband to
give up his w ork and jaunt about
Europe with her and her friends.
Content to stay in Paris and reluctant
to live o ff his w ife's money, Bullard
refused. The couple separated in
1930, with Bullard gaining complete
custody o f the children. Marcelle
died young o f a lung ailment in 1936;
Bullard never remarried.
As Nazism grew more powerful
in the 1930’s so did Bullard's loath­
ing o f it. When, in the late spring o f
1940, the fu ll fury o f the Nazi war
machine fell on the west and smashed
the A llied efforts in the Battle o f
France, B ullard’s friends urged him
to flee the country; the color o f his
skin would make him likely to be
rounded up and shot by the Germans
Having placed his daughters in safe
hands, he left Paris with fifteen hun­
dred francs and a knapsack filled
with canned goods, sausages, crack­
ers, and bread But he was not fleeing
the Germans. He was heading fo r his
old unit, the 170th Infantry. He
learned it was at Epinal. in northeast­
ern France, but soon after found out
from the hordes o f refugees and de­
feated soldiers that Epinal had al­
ready fallen. Hearing that the 51st
Infantry was making a stand at O r­
leans. Bullard began w orking his way
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