Blacks weren't allowed to do anything like that back then.. solely having the black guy as a flyboy blew a large hole in the films credibility. I know blacks do commonly stir uproars over nothing but why do that to your movie when you had basis to not have a black character? meh.
shareYou are such a retard here is proof that this black guy did exist and did exactly what they say he did in the movie. The only thing changed was his last name. I notice you make a lot of silly comments about black people but it was you who made an uproar on this subject. Check your facts next time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard
Serving his country?
Actually, he`s serving in the FRENCH army and his motivation is that "this country (france) has been good to me."
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
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Matt you are the moron it says he fought for France so the movie was accurate about that account what is your problem?
shareDon't feed the troll.
shareFor people who wonder why a Black History Month is necessary, I refer you to Mighty Matt. Sad.
shareWhile America thought them inferior and lazy, France recognized them as men, capable of anything other men could do. They recruited battalions from their African colonies that fought alongside French troops in the trenches. Yes, there may have been prejudices but when it came to battle there was no question. The Black Man could fight.
Eugene Jacques Bullard
Birth: Oct. 9, 1894
Death: Oct. 13, 1961
Famed African American combat pilot of WWI, "The Black Swallow of Death." He trained and flew with the French and is thought to have downed at least 2 German aircraft during the war. Regarded by the French as a national hero, Bullard stayed in France after the First World War. He married a French countess, served as a band leader and operated successful businesses. He returned to the United States to avoid possible capture after being wounded fighting the Nazis with French underground resistance forces during the Second World War.
Burial:
Federation of French War Veterans Cemetery
Flushing
Queens County
New York, USA
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Well done! He was a (pardon the language) bad-ass
shareWhen I saw this idiot post I was going to give the answer that was long since given. But you did leave me this opening:
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/bullard.html
Eugene Jacques Bullard ...Badass
As to the OP, he is a troll. Nothing more. Just trying to get folks to take his banal racist bait.
Why settle for the lesser of two evils? Vote Cthulhu!
Look no further than WWII for the road that Mr. Bullard paved. The Tuskegee Airmen had one of the highest squadron kill ratios in modern history.
For the record, African Americans have served in EVERY conflict America has ever been in. From the Revolutionary War to present. Do yourself a favor and educate your little brain before you attempt to use it.
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Thanks Elvin315 for the info
shareI also thought the black guy was inserted to have a politically correct movie or something, good thing I looked it up here. However its typically American that he's now designated as a kind of hero, just because he was black. Thats still discriminating. During his service he didnt do anything special other than being black, so why the lie he was a national hero of France?
shareBecause he was!!! All the guys in the Lafayette escadrille were heroes of France. It's not because he was black; it's because he was a foreigner who volunteered to put his ass in a flying toaster and go play with the Big, Bad Wolf in the skies over a country that was close to nothing to him, except a country in need of heroes with a death-wish.
I'm a Sidekick and proud of it.
Well said and he wanted something better for his life as well. I think it was great of him to want to fight for France in World War I. but it is a shame that they would not let him fight in World War II. though. Still he is a heroe though.
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans of the show! www.deefilmroll.com/usa-uan/
That's right. Remember that the French Army accepted anyone to die for France. Black from anywhere included (cf. black US volunteers, French regiments of Black soldiers from all over the French colonies of Africa, mainly the 'tirailleurs senegalais'...
Patton's take on war was to say: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
The French take on war is: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his by having a poor bastard from elsewhere do the job for us."
Hey, we smart.
LeStratege
With 1.3 million dead french soldiers, 4 millions wounded and a good part of France destroyed, I think French don't have lessons to receive from anyone about dying for their country. And yes, I know there were a lot of foreigners and people from the colonies, and I know how important it is to acknowledge them. The fact still remains that France certainly fought for itself and paid the price.
It was more than 1.3. They doctored the numbers. It was probably more than 1.6 million, and the casualty rate was very very high to today's standards.
Most men were victims of chemical warfare, diseases, various infections, and lots and lots of shrapnel wounds, because something people ignore about this war is this: there was a heck of a lot of artillery fire. 24/7. Any sort of caliber. Perpetual rolling thunder.
Movies show you glorious charges of men leaping out of their trenches, but most of the killing and wounding was done by artillery fire.
I used to know a few of these men (they all are dead now of course) and not one, I mean not one was not wounded, not one was not incapacitated by this experience, PTSD not included.
It was the FRENCH army by the way. They didn't give a damn about what color you were.
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the blacks even fought in the civil war! havent u seen Glory?
if u havent seen that, ever hear of the Buffalo Soldiers?
*beep*
"Okay, uh, I'm lost. I'm angry. And I'm armed." - Mal
Blacks were allowed to, and did serve in the military in WWI, and before. Although the majority were enlisted into SOS units (Service of Supply), driving trucks, buring dead, unloading ships, etc... there were two divisions, the 92nd infantry Division and 93rd Infantry Division of the AEF (American Expeditionary Forces), which were composed of "colored" regiments and saw combat on the front lines of the Western Front. The soldiers of these divisions were "lent" to the French armies to augment their troops, and so did not serve in a U.S. "Army" (used here as a level of control: company -> battalion -> regiment -> brigade -> division -> corps -> army).
One of the last surviving U.S. combat veterans of WWI, Moses Hardy, was a black soldier with the 805th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. Hardy was the son of former slaves from Mississippi. At the time of his death (Dec. 7, 2006) Hardy was the oldest living combat veteran in the United States.
Henry Lincoln Johnson, of the 369th Infantry Regiment "Harlem Hellfighters" and a regiment of the NY National Guard, 93rd Infantry Division, was the first American soldier awarded the Croix de Guerre during WWI. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the highest award for bravery available in the US Army below the Medal of Honor, as well as the Purple Heart. Another soldier of the 396th was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during WWI.
Benjamin O. Davis, Sr, the first black general in the US Army also served in WWI as a Lt. Colonel, although not overseas.
These are just three black individuals who served in the US Army during WWI. There were thousands more, and thousands going back before WWI to the Mexican Expedition, the Spanish-American War, the Indian (Plains) Wars, the Civil War, The Mexican War, the War of 1812 and the Revolutionary War. Such as the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, the Buffalo Soldiers, who after fighting Indians on the Great Plains fought the Spaniards in Cuba and charged up Kettle Hill in advance of, and during the famous charge of, the Rough Riders (more often known as the charge up San Juan Hill).
Mighty Matt, you're making an idiot of yourself in these posts. Black men weren't allowed to serve in the U.S. Army back then, this is true. But this film is not about the U.S. Army. It's about the Lafayette Escadrille. Though primarily consisting of American pilots (38 Americans, four Frenchmen), the pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille flew under the French colors. Their uniforms were French (didn't you notice the blue color?), their C.O. was French, their medical staff and ground personnel wrere all French. It was a unit that served the French Aviation Serice. The United States hadn't even joined the fight yet. Indeed, once they did in May 1918 and absorbed the Lafayette Escadrille (changing its name to the 103rd Pursuit Squadron), they grounded the African-American (after whom the Skinner character is based) and told him that he could not fly anymore (a purely racist decision made by Americans during a far less enlightened time). But for two years (1916 - 1918), while flying for France, he did serve as a fighter ace for the Lafayette Escadrille and shot down many German planes in the process. Jesus! Don't take my word for it, just research it on the internet if you need confirmation.
shareMighty Matt. You are mistaken.First off he was in the French Army.Second,blacks did serve in the U S Army in 1914-1918. They were in segregated units at the time and generally did secondary work and did not fight.Whew, I would not want to be your history teacher
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It looks very strange that of the almost 300 american pilots thats served in the laffayete squadron they took the only black as one of the main pilots of this movie.
It seems every american film and serie must have at least one black.
Is any law in USA that force to do this?
By your logic (IMHO)black people aren't true Americans. My great uncle was black and a mess steward in the Navy during the attack on Pear Harbor. Later in the war when the Marine Corps started accepting blacks he joined. His younger brother my other great uncle was a combat engineer in the Army during the Korean War,he was black also. My father served a tour in the Army during Vietnam back in '67. I served in the first Gulf War in the Navy and the second in the Marine Corps,I'm black. So your point is? People really seem to have a love/hate affair with black people in movies,some of you need serious mental help.
Certain people on imdb STINK!
Excellent post, EXPLICITSOUL5. I don't understand this issue some people have with minority people in movies. Any time a person from a racial or religious minority group happens to appear in a movie, I see people on IMDb bitching about "political correctness", "token minorities", etc. It's like because black people are a minority in the U.S, the film industry is supposed to pretend they don't exist and never hire any of them for movies. And yet these people claim not to be racist.
I think it's great this guy was represented in this film; his story deserves to be told.
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Not to mention: considering how exceptionally rare it was at the time to have a black pilot, it would be entirely stupid NOT to tell his story: what possible reason could the writers have not to include him in the story, when his is such an extraordinary life???
"Occasionally I'm callous and strange."
Sir, Respect for you, your Father & your Great-Uncle!!! Do not you mind A-holes like that, who have no knowledge of History...in the Boston Massacre, the first American victim of the British was Black!-Carlos Aneiro, Puerto Rico
shareActually Blacks have served in most American wars:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_African_Americans
Certain people on imdb STINK!
I do have to agree with the with some of the derogatory comments torward you. I think you neglected to ACTUALLY look up the Lafayette Escadrille. The character's name is Eugene Skinner and he was a boxer living in France. The real person is very famous. His name was Cpl Eugene Bullard, he was the son of a former slave from Georia. He was also the first American black pilot in history and the only black American pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille. I am in the air force and had to know this for a test. It would have been an injustice to him and all black service members if the character based on him had been left out.
So, in a sense you were right, blacks weren't allowed to do anything like that... until Eugene Bullard came along. France was pretty much color blind then, even though America wasn't, and they were happy to have another pilot to put his life on the line for the defense of their country.
Yeah, this shows the lack of the knowledge of history in this country.
Actually, there were blacks in the Armed Forces going all the way back to the Revolution. Lincoln approved the use of black soldiers in the Union Army and there were certain outfits even in the Army of the Confederacy. Teddy Roosevelt made mention of black soldiers in the Rough Riders, there were black units chasing Pancho Villa and black auxillary troops in WWI. WWII saw black airmen(the famous Tuskegee Airmen) and there were black combat troops in the both the ETO and with the Marines in the Pacific. When President Truman desegragated the armed forces, black Americans now had the "privledge" of fighting along side their white countrymen.
Frankly, I have great admiration and wonderment about these people. Being a white guy, I can't imagine putting my life on the line for a country that has done nothing but hold me down. I have had a chance to meet and talk to some Tuskegee Airmen and they are amazing. They knew what they were getting into and they went willingly and enthusiastically, knowing they likely would still be treated as second class citizens. These guys are far better role models for black kids then rappers or athletes.
It is said southerners looked more favorably upon the German POWs spread through out the South during WWII than they did the uniformed black servicemen guarding them. No wonder Skinner/Bullard went to and fought for France and stayed there.
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"Frankly, I have great admiration and wonderment about these people. Being a white guy, I can't imagine putting my life on the line for a country that has done nothing but hold me down."
He's not fighting for his country, i.e the US, but for his adopted country, i.e, France; and he does not resent France for holding him down or anything of the sort, in fact he clearly says that he is grateful for the way he's been treated and that he owes France his thanks; that's why he volunteers.
I'm a Sidekick and proud of it.
Yeah, but once the U.S joined the war, he joined the U.S forces.
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And, as pointed out by an earlier post about the number of casualties, both Britain and France had been bled dry by the 'Let's jump up and charge a well-fortified MG position and entangled trench line, we'll over-whelm them with numbers!' strategy. Knowing they needed more warm bodies, they invited able bodied volunteers.
McCain/Palin 2008
Palin/Jindal 2012
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The Character is based on an actual person, an African American, who served in the French Flying Corps before the US entered teh War. the US wouldnt let him fly for them.
~Thanato
He was fighting for France as others have said
shareFirst of all, the African American character in the film, Skinner, was based on a real-life African American (forgive me, but I've forgotten his name) who emigrated to France to get away from the racism that was practiced heavily in the United States back then. Like the character of Skinner, this man became a price fighter in France until he eventually joined the Lafayette Escadrille as a fighter pilot. The filmmakers were not being PC here. The information is accurate.
You're right when you say that a black guy wouldn't have been a flyboy, but this was only true of the American Air Service at the time, not the French. Indeed, after the United States entered the war in May 1918 and appropriated the Lafayette Escadrille (changing its name to the 103rd Pursuit Squadron), this African-American (again, I'm truly sorry for not remembering his name), though a heroic fighter pilot who'd downed numerous German planes during the course of the war, was told by the Americans that he was not allowed to fly simply because he was black.
Please note: I am not anti-American (I am one, after all), just anti-racism, and unfortunately, my country dished out a lot of it back in those days.
Anyway, this poor fellow, who should have been allowed to fly for the 103rd Pursuit Squadron, but was not due to his skin color, returned to America and became an elevator operator at the Empire State Building in New York, I believe. The reason I mention this is because in the early 1960s, when Prime minister of France Charles De Gaule traveled to America to visit JFK, he stopped over in New York and paid a visit to the black man (40 years older now) and paid tribute to him for having served France during World War I.
Actually if you watch the movie with commentary, they found durring their research that there was a black man; an American serving in the Escalade, and he was the son of a slave. As in the picture, when the US entered the war he was not allowed to fly for them, but the French didn't care.
*Forever Cho Chang Fan*
Cho's story continues at: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1552296/1/
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It's "Escadrille", not Escalade...
"Sometimes I'm callous and strange."