Kiffin Yates Rockwell was an American pilot and an early aviator born on September 20, 1892. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre the Croix de Guerre the Médaille militaire for his brave action during the World War I
Background
Kiffin Yates Rockwell was born in Newport, Tennessee, United States on 20. 09. 1892, the son of James Chester and Loula (Ayres) Rockwell. He was a descendant of William Rockwell who in 1630 came to America and settled in Dorchester, Massachussets, later removing to Windsor, Connecticut; his great-grandfather, Chester, born in Middletown, Connecticut, married a Southern girl and went to South Carolina, where he bought a plantation near Whiteville; both his grandfathers served in the Confederate army. His father died when Kiffin was barely a year old.
Education
The boy spent several months each year on the plantation of his maternal grandfather in South Carolina, where he early learned to hunt and fish, became an excellent horseman, and, stirred by stories of the chivalry displayed in the Civil War, made up his mind to be a soldier. When he was fourteen the family moved to Asheville, North Carolina, and after attending the high school there, in 1908 he entered the Virginia Military Institute. The following year, believing he was more likely to see action in the navy than in the army, he secured an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Soon, however, persuaded that wartime service on either sea or land was but a remote possibility, he resigned the appointment and entered Washington and Lee University, where an older brother, Paul, was a student.
Career
The impulse to roam strong within him, in 1912 he journeyed to the Pacific Coast, and for a time ran an advertising agency in San Francisco. In January 1914 he joined his brother in Atlanta. The outbreak of the World War that same year brought him his opportunity. On August 3, in a letter to the French consul at New Orleans, he offered his services to France. Not waiting for a reply, he hastened to New York and with his brother Paul sailed for Europe and enlisted in the Foreign Legion. After a brief training he went to the front as a private in the Second Foreign Regiment. During the winter he saw hard and dangerous service in the trenches, the squad to which he belonged, composed of the tallest men in his battalion, being assigned the most exacting and unpleasant tasks. Rockwell proved himself a born soldier, doing more work and guard duty than any one else, and displaying exceptional physical stamina and morale. Transferred to the First Foreign Regiment in March 1915, he took part in the fierce battle of May 9, when the Legion stormed La Targette, and was shot through the thigh. After hospitalization and convalescence he returned to his regiment, but in September was permitted to transfer to aviation. Having received his training as a pilot, in April 1916 he became one of the Escadrille Lafayette. Rockwell's letters, published after his death, reveal the motives that led him to enter the war. "You would not wish my life to be a failure in my own mind , " he wrote his mother. "If I should be killed in this war I will at least die as a man should and would not consider myself a complete failure" (Letters, post, p. 7). "I pay my part for Lafayette and Rochambeau, " he said, and was happy in the consciousness that he was adventuring "for a greater cause than most people do--the cause of all humanity" (Ibid. , p. 57). As an aviator he showed great courage, endurance, and good judgment. Whenever possible he was in the air, and where he was no enemy passed. He was the first of the Escadrille, May 18, 1916, to bring down a plane. On May 24, he was wounded in the face by an explosive bullet that hit his windshield, but in a couple of days was active again. During July and August he fought more than seventy combats. On Sept. 23, flying at 12, 000 feet, he attacked a German plane below him, and received an explosive bullet through his breast, his plane crashing to the ground near Thann, Alsace. He was buried, as he had requested in the event of his death, where he fell. The Midaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre with four palms and one star had already been conferred upon him, and after his death he was awarded the Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He had also been proposed for promotion from the grade of sergeant to that of second lieutenant
Views
Quotations:
Rockwell's letters, published after his death, reveal the motives that led him to enter the war. "You would not wish my life to be a failure in my own mind , " he wrote his mother. "If I should be killed in this war I will at least die as a man should and would not consider myself a complete failure" (Letters, post, p. 7). "I pay my part for Lafayette and Rochambeau, " he said, and was happy in the consciousness that he was adventuring "for a greater cause than most people do--the cause of all humanity" (Ibid. , p. 57).
Membership
member of the United States military
Personality
Rockwell proved himself a born soldier, doing more work and guard duty than any one else, and displaying exceptional physical stamina and morale.
Connections
On September 23, flying at 12, 000 feet, he attacked a German plane below him, and received an explosive bullet through his breast, his plane crashing to the ground near Thann, Alsace. He was buried, as he had requested in the event of his death, where he fell.
