Volume XI
Number 51
TH E STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
May 20
1Q44
Enl«re4 •• i*«OBd (lui 1. 193). ■! U. PetUBr* at Releirh. Norib Corolino. endor lb* Acl of Ifortb 3.
197»
James R. McConnell
lie was one of I lie heroes of World War I
and gave his life while a member of Ihe La-
fayfte Eseadrille: thaf famous organization
composed entirely of Americans.
MOOR
К
is
л
famous county,
named in honor of Mr. .lustier
Alfred Moore of the Supreme
Court of the I'nitcd States, and it has
reduced a number of illustrious sons,
'rom its rugged soil sprang such men
a* Archibald MacBridc, outstanding
lawyer and historian who served sev¬
eral terms in Congress; l>r. George
Glasscock, a first cousin of President
George Washington, who was foully
murdered by Col. Philip Alston, the
notorious Tory. The Doctor was the
great-grandfather of Col. Alexander
H. McXeill, who was for thirty-five
years Clerk of the Superior Court
of the county and who. when finally
defeated for renomination, ran inde-
l-ndent and came within twelve votes
of being elected! Mere lived Benja¬
min Williams, Govornor of the state
in 1709 and who thereafter served
in the state Senate. The title to the
house in which lie lived passed
through the hands of four different
governors of our state!
Here also lived James R. McCon¬
nell. son of a railroad executive in
comfortable financial circumstances.
Young McConnell was educated at
llaverford College, Pennsylvania,
where he was an outstanding athlete
and a member of its famous football
eleven. The outbreak of the First
World War found young McConnell,
young, handsome ami athletic, at his
home in Carthage meditating upon
his life's work. But in December.
1015, he heard the clarion-like call of
stricken France.
tty It. C. LAWRENCE
the most famous flying outfit in the
French army, officered and manned
exclusively by Americans. Several
other Carolinians were members of
this famous organization which was
commanded by Major Raoul l.uf*
berry, among these being Killin
Rockwell «if Asheville, Arthur Blue-
tbentlial of Wilmington ami Jamc*
Baugham of Washington, and other
Carolinian* lost their lives in its
perilous service. Perhaps the most
famous member of the organization
was Hermit Roosevelt, son of Presi¬
dent Theodore, who was destined to
meet n flaming «loath high over the
German lines, and whoso grave was
to become a shrine to which Ameri¬
cans made a beaten path.
But the death of those heroic fly¬
ers was to lie amply avenged. Tim
Kseadrille was the organization most
dreaded by the German flying forces,
commanded by the famous Baron von
Richthorcn, so-called “Red Kaglo" of
the German flying circus. The Baron
was the German ace of aces, the hero
of a hundred aerial «log-fights, and
it was the irony «if fntc that he was
eventually t«i he shot down over his
own lines by a raw Canadian pilot
who was making his first flight over
Flanders Field !
McConnell was bold ami fearless,
and the plane in which he rode the
skyways was always in the thickest of
the fight. Several German plane- fell
before the fire «if his machine gun.
His valor was r«>cognized while he
yet lived by the award from the
French authorities of the croix do
(Continued on page I went
у-
four)
Joined the Eseadrille
His courage inspired the soul of the
young athlete, and he volunteered for
service in the LaFavettc Eseadrille,
The plaque in front of the community house at Carthage honors McConnell
and was presented by the French government.
t
