The Black Swallow Of Death - The War Hero from Georgia You've Never Heard Of

A Black man left America for Paris to escape the racism of the early 20th century. He made France his home. When World War I started, he volunteered to defend his home. He fought in WWI and was a spy for part of WWII. When he wrote his memoirs after World War II, he couldn't get it published, because no one could believe all of the stuff he had done. But books were eventually written to record his deeds.

This is the Fat Electrician's video The Black Swallow Of Death - Eugene Bullard

Today we're talking about a professional boxer, a professional jazz musician, a World War I machine gunner, decorated for Valor on the battlefield, a spy, the world's first black combat pilot, who also is probably the first man to take a Capuchin monkey into combat as well. And just to be clear, this is not like The A Team, Avengers type group that I'm laying out before you. No. This is all one guy.

His name's Eugene Bullard. His friends called him Sparrow. Everybody else just called him The Black Swallow of Death, and for further clarification Eugene is most well known for being the world's first black, combat pilot, but honestly, while that is a great achievement, it's one of the shortest and least interesting parts of his life story.

It's a 45 or 50 minute video, so plan accordingly. It does cover his youth in Georgia, his career as a boxer, his eventual move to France, both world wars, the time between the wars, the Jazz scene in Paris, and more. I think it is worth the time.