May 18 1916 - Corp Kiffin Rockwell of North Carolin shot down a German reconnaissance plane, the first kill of the new 124 squadron called the Lafayette Escadrille, that had been formed Apr 16 by Norman Prince and Dr. Edmund Gros who created the American Ambulance Field Service in France, with 7 American pilots under 2 French officers, equipped with new Nieuports. On May 18, the squadron was assigned to Verdun. On May 24, William Thaw shot down a Fokker , was first American awarded Legion of Honor. That same day, Bert Hall shot down a plane and was also wounded. The squadron attracted much publicity, and made Americans sympathetic to the French in the war. http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/ww1/1914.html
