Rendezvous with Death: The Americans Who Joined the Foreign Legion in 1914 to Fight for France and for Civilization

by David Hanna

Overview

They volunteered for the French, but they were fighting for the future of civilization.

Before America joined World War I, a small group of Americans volunteered for the French Foreign Legion to help defeat the Central Powers. Historian David Hanna profiles seven of these volunteers: a poet, an artist, a boxer, a stunt pilot, a college student, a veteran of the Spanish American War, and an advertising executive. All seven men were united in courage; and some, like poet Alan Seeger, paid the ultimate sacrifice. Before he was killed in battle, Seeger penned the immortal words that inspired this book's title:

I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621579670
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	03/19/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

David Hanna teaches history at Stuyvesant High School in New York. He lives with his family in Morris County, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Prologue xv

Chapter 1 Belle Époque 1

Chapter 2 Eruption 31

Chapter 3 La Légion 49

Chapter 4 Chemin Des Dames 69

Chapter 5 Sans Peur Sans Pitié 95

Chapter 6 Escadrille Americaine 115

Chapter 7 Champagne 139

Chapter 8 Verdun 167

Chapter 9 Knights of the Air 189

Chapter 10 Rendezvous 229

Chapter 11 Hat in the Ring 253

Epilogue 281

Acknowledgments 287

Notes 291

Selected Bibliography 311

List of Illustrations and Sources 317

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

This is the most mesmerizing book about World War I that I have read in a
long time. It is the saga of American idealism’s first confrontation with the tragedy of the Great War. Best of all it is a story that has never been told, much less understood. David Hanna has written a book to be read and
remembered when we try to understand America’s role in a chaotic world.”
— Thomas Fleming, author of The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I


“A brilliantly researched book that is a moving tribute to the American
citizens of 1914 who fought in the French military for freedom and liberty.
David Hanna gives the reader keys to better understand them and who
they were. Their deeds, their achievement, and their spirit are living in this book—lest we forget them.”
— Yves Fohlen, lecturer and guide at the Musée du Chemin des Dames–Caverne du Dragon in Chemin des Dames, France


“As in his previous book, Knights of the Sea, David Hanna is drawn to men
and causes of a chivalrous nature. In Rendezvous with Death he writes of
intrepid American men—black and white, rich and poor—who, in the early
stages of World War I, are compelled to fight for ideas and values and not
be passive spectators at the demise of European civilization.
“Hanna leads the reader on a journey to a pivotal moment in history when
great European armies and divergent ideologies clashed, locked in a desperate and drawn out struggle. August 1914 also brought together a mix of idealistic Americans in Paris who decided to make a stand for a cause they also saw as their own. The Americans Hanna introduces are a disparate group, but all are noble in spirit and deed and will make any reader reflect on those harrowing four years—and even on the challenges of our current age.
“The research is meticulous, including on-site visits to European battlegrounds, interviews with modern pilots of World War I aircraft, and even a conversation with an American veteran of the French Foreign Legion.
Hanna’s World War I book—part gripping world history and part collection
• f inspiring personal life stories—is a fully engaging read. Indeed, any
American will feel proud reading this seldom-told story of his fellow countrymen’s spirit and sacrifice in the bloody fields of France.”
— Nicholas Valldejuli, 1er Régiment étranger de cavalerie, 1er
Régiment étranger, Légion Etrangère (ret.)

From the Publisher

"Rendezvous With Death hits on all cylinders with its depiction of a conflict with present-day ramifications."

HistoryNet