Eugene Jacques Bullard

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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Eugene Jacques Bullard was the first African-American fighter pilot in history, he was also a national hero; his life, an incredible story.

Bullard was an expatriate living in France when World War one began. He joined the French Infantry but was seriously wounded, France awarded him the Croix de Guerre and Medaille Militaire.  In 1916 he joined the French air service, he first trained as a gunner and later as a pilot. 

When American pilots volunteered to help France and formed the famous Lafayette Escadrille, Bullard requested leave to join but by the time he became a qualified pilot, they were no longer accepting new recruits. He joined the Lafayette Flying Corps instead and served with French flying units, completing 20 combat missions.

When the United States joined the war, Bullard was the only member of the Escadrille or the French Flying Corps NOT invited to join the US Air Service. At that time, the Air Service only accepted white men.

After WWI Bullard became a jazz musician in Paris and would own a nightclub, ‘L’Escadrille.’  When the Germans invaded France during WW2, his Club, and Bullard himself, was hugely popular with German officers. What they did not know was that Bullard, who spoke fluent German, was working for the Free French as a spy. He eventually joined a French infantry unit but was badly wounded and forced to leave the service.

By the end of the war, Bullard had become a national hero in France. Later, when he moved to the U.S., he was completely unknown. No one in the United States knew in 1959, when the French government named him a national Chevalier or Knight.

In 1960, the President of France, Charles DeGaulle, on a state visit to the United States stated one of the first acts he wished to do was to meet Bullard. White House staff scrambled, most had never even heard of him. He was finally located in New York City and DeGaulle traveled there to meet him personally. At the time, Eugene Bullard was employed as an elevator operator.

Not long after Bullard's meeting with the French President, he passed away.  

Today too few Americans know his incredible tale.