Lieutenant Colonel Georges Thenault () (15 December 1887 – 19 December 1948) was the commander of the Lafayette Escadrille – the famed branch of the French air force in World War I composed of American volunteer pilots. The Lafayette Escadrille was created before the United States gave up its neutrality and joined France and Britain in the war against Germany. Once the United States formally entered the war, the Lafayette Escadrille was absorbed into the U.S. Army.
Early life
Born on 2 October 1887,Catalog of the French National Library in the small town of Celle-Lévescault, France (located on main highway between La Rochelle and Tours) to the parents of Monsieur Paul Louis Thenault and Madame Eugénie Gabrielle Louise Bathilde (Bonneau) Thenault. His parents were married on 1 September 1886 at Église Notre-Dame de Vaux Church, Vaux commune, Vienne, Poitou-Charentes, France. His siblings were Louis Roger Thenault (brother), Edmée Isabelle Thenault (sister), and Marcel Emile Thenault (brother).Date of birth and place of birth were derived from the ship's manifest listing. List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer Port of Arrival: S.S. France, Passengers Sailing from Havre, 15 July 1922. Arrival at Port of New York, 22 July 1922. Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897–1957; National Archives Microfilm Publication Serial T715; Microfilm roll: T715_3146. p. 3, no. 27, and p. 4, no. 27. Family names were obtained from Source citation for Vienne, France Censuses 1836-1901. 1896. Colombiers commune. Page 3 of 19.
World War I
Standing 5-ft, 8-in, he was a giant in the eyes of his fellow Frenchmen and a respected leader amongst the American volunteer pilots. Identified as N.124, the Lafayette Escadrille was assigned to Groupe de Combat 13 under the overall command of Commandant Philippe Féquant.The Lima News. "Air Pioneer Dies". 25 December 1938. p. 2, column 7. "Air Pioneer Dies. Paris, Dec. 24 – (UP) – Gen. Philippe Fequant, 55, former chief of staff of the air force and a pioneer in French aviation, died today of heart disease". During 1916–1917, this Groupe de Combat 13 took part in such engagements as the Battle of the Somme, the Second Battle of the Aisne, the Battle of Verdun, and in the Battle of Passchendaele. In early 1918, it operated in the region between Soissons and Reims.
Captain Georges Thenault credits Adjudant Norman Prince for conceiving in November 1914 the idea of bringing together his countrymen with some of those of the French Foreign Legion in a squadron of flyers. Support soon came about from civilian and military representatives of France and the United States. These representatives added expertise and government networking resolving over time the method of recruiting and financing, and successfully encountering the French officialdom. Five influential men instrumental in providing this organizational support included: (1) French Foreign Affairs Ministry Official Messr. Maximilien Jarousse de Sillac (1873–1934): career diplomat and conservative French supporter for world peace; assigned as the French Preparatory Commission secretary for the Third Hague Conference that never took place due to the World War (2) Dr. Edmund L. Gros, M.D. (1869–1942): Chief Surgeon & Director of the American Ambulance Corps headquartered in the American hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine, western suburb of Paris, France; resident of 23 Ave. du Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France (5 January 1911 – September 1940). (3) Mr. Frederick Hobbs Allen (1858–1937): Harvard graduate, 1883 with LLB. and AM.; established law firm Allen & Cammann (1900); member of the American Legion and Sons of the American Revolution; residing in Paris when war erupted and became a member of a committee to assist the American embassy in the emergency, and was a chairman of a subcommittee appointed to repatriate American citizens when his advice was requested. He provided U.S. legal guidance that avoided international technicalities confronting American citizens desiring to fight in a foreign war prior to U.S. entry in April 1917. (4) Colonel Thomas Bentley Mott, US, Artillery Corps, American Expeditionary Force (1865–1952): graduate of USMA, 1886; served as the senior U.S. Army military attaché to the American embassy in Paris, France, 1914–1921. His support came from being a U.S. Army liaison officer for General John J. Pershing on the staff of Marshal Ferdinand Foch. (5) Brigadier General Victor Paul Bouttieaux, French Army (1858–1918): A recipient of the highest honor bestowed by France – Officer of the Legion of Honour (1913), he was influential within the French Army staff as Aviation Chief of the French 1st Army (commanded by General Auguste Dubail), reporting directly to the Chief of Staff – General Marie-Georges Demange concerning balloons, airships, and aircraft. In this capacity he commanded six aviation squadrons (1914–1918).
This team of five experts identified the many issues involved and the obstacles that had to be overcome, and helped the first American volunteers to develop a plan:
"There were Americans fighting in the Foreign Legion, but their identity was lost in this body; they were simply units in a tremendous group. Dr. Gros and his associates dreamed of some other form of service in which Americans might participate as Americans, even though the flag of the United States might not officially be carried into the war. The idea was constantly before them, and, when they found that among the Americans already in France and already anxious to help as best they might, were men who had learned the art of flying in this country, the plan for a special American flying corps was conceived and developed."The American Review of Reviews: An International Magazine. Editor: Albert Shaw. Vol LVI. July–December 1917. The Review of Reviews Company: New York. "Leading Articles of the Month. The Lafayette Flying Corps". p. 192.
Final approval for this plan was given by Major General Auguste Edouard Hirschauer (16 June 1857, Saint-Avold, Moselle, Lorraine region of France – 27 December 1943, Versailles, Yvelines, region Ile-de-France) – Chief of French Military Aeronautics for the Ministry of War (1914–1915).Congressional Medal of Honor, The Distinguished Service Cross, and The Distinguished Service Medal Issued By the War Department Since April 6, 1917, Up to and Including General Orders, No. 126, War Department, November 11, 1919. Compiled in the Office of the Adjutant General of the Army. "Distinguished Service Medal: Auguste Edouard Hirschauer". p. 910. Government Printing Office: Washington 1920. The U.S. War Department awarded Major General Hirschauer, French Army, commanding the 2d Army, with the Distinguished Service Medal. "For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services rendered to the American Expeditionary Forces and to the cause in which the United States has been engaged". Major General Hirschauer's aviation influence derived from his experience and work in these areas: (1) commander of the 25th Engineer Battalion comprising four airships (1904–1906), (2) professorship of military engineering and aviation at the Graduate School of Marine War (1907–1912) where his influence helped change the terminology designating heavier-than-air aerostat to plane (officially accepted on 29 November 1911), (3) as permanent chief inspector of military aviation (1912), (4) at the outbreak of war commanded a brigade of balloonists with the 5th and 8th engineering regiments of Versailles (1914–1915), and thus became recognized by the French military staff as one of the founding fathers of French Aviation Service – Service Aéronautique. Also, in receipt of the DSM were: Messr. Maximilien Jarousse de Sillac, Dr. Edmund Louis Gros , Mr. Frederick Hobbs Allen (30 May 1862, Honolulu, Hawaiian Territory – died), Colonel Thomas Bentley Mott, USA, AEF, USMA-Class of 1886, whose book provided some details in assisting the aviation efforts Twenty Years As Military Attache (Oxford University Press: New York, 1937), and Colonel Paul Bouttieaux, who eventually reached the rank of brigadier general before being killed in an automobile accident. Served in the French Aviation Service for thirty years, and made the first experiments with aerial telephotography. Prior to his death held the position of French commanding officer of engineers.
It started with a group of American volunteers (Norman Prince, William Thaw, Victor Chapman, Kiffin Rockwell, James McConnell, Clyde Balsley, Chouteau Johnson, Lawrence Rumsey, Paul Rockwell) in Paris, France, where they met to discuss how would one be able to enter the French Aviation Service to fly combat missions against the Germans. They met Monday evening, 17 April 1916, at a Paris restaurant to celebrate the final and definite organization of the Escadrille Americaine.Nordhoff, Charles Bernard. The Lafayette Flying Corps in Two Volumes, Volume I. Edited by James Norman Hall. "The Escadrille Lafayette at the Front". Chapter II, p. 17. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston MA 1920.
They became the first group to enter the French Aviation Service under the guidance of a distinguished French pilot, Captain Georges Thenault. The Escadrille N.124, first called the Escadrille Americaine, then the Escadrille des Volontaires, and finally the Escadrille Lafayette, was formed on Wednesday, 15 March 1916, under the command of Captain Georges Thenault. Into this squadron came more American volunteers who were at one time automobile mechanics, ambulance drivers, and members of the French Foreign Legion.After the beginning of the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris, early in the winter of 1914, more and more automobiles were given by Americans, and these cars and their drivers – usually American volunteers – became the nucleus of the Paris branch of the American Ambulance Service. Also, AFS Intercultural Programs They became an elite corps of volunteers administratively assigned to this squadron. Thus, began the association called the Franco-American Flying Corps – later to be known as the Lafayette Flying Corps.
The Lafayette Escadrille was from the beginning a chasse, or pursuit, squadron. Originally provided with the thirteen (square)-meter Nieuport 11, armed with a single Lewis gun on the top plane, it changed successively to the Vickers-armed fifteen (square)-meter Nieuport 17, SPAD S.VII with a single Vickers machinegun, and the SPAD S.XIII with the twin-Vickers machinegun.
Marshal Philippe Pétain, Commander-in-Chief of the French forces, commended the Lafayette squadron, composed of American airmen, for its courage, spirit and sacrifice. In the French general orders of 31 Aug 1917, the Marshal said:
"The squadrilla, composed of American volunteers who have come to fight for France in the pure spirit of sacrifice, has fought incessantly under the command of Captain Georges Thenault, who formed it for an ardent fight against our enemies. In very severe combats it has paid the price of serious losses, which, far from weakening, have increased its morale. The squadrilla has brought down twenty-eight enemy aeroplanes. It has aroused the profound admiration of commanders who have had it under their orders, and also of French squadrillas which are fighting beside it and have desired to rival it in valor".Aerial Age Weekly. 3 September 1917: New York. Vol. 5, No. 25, page 913. Editorial in New York America. The Morning New Bernian (New Bern, North Carolina). Wednesday, 5 September 1917, p. 2, column 4.