“TOUT SANG COULE ROUGE” ALL BLOOD RUNS RED

By Chestley E. Talley and Kathy M. Graham

EUGENE JACQUES BULLARD, THE BLACK SWALLOW OF DEATH, AMERICA’S FIRST BLACK COMBAT PILOT

Engaged in an aerial dogfight while flying in the open cockpit of a SPAD S.VII, dubbed “the flying machine gun”1, without a parachute and 17,000 feet above Verdun, France in 1917, Eugene Jacques Bullard, the Black Swallow of Death, became America’s first Black Combat Pilot, ironically fighting for France against the Germans during World War I.

Who was Eugene Jacques Bullard?

In 1959, Charles de Gaulle, President of the French Republic, bestowed the Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honor on American Expatriate Eugene

Jacques Bullard to recognize him as a French National Military Hero, in honor of his meritorious service during World Wars I and II as a French Foreign Legion infantryman, combat pilot, and spy for La Résistance Françoise, the French Resistance. As an infantryman Bullard was awarded 15 metals including Le Croix de Guerre with Bronze Star, France’s highest honor for valor and bravery following the Battle of Verdun. For his act of heroism Bullard was decorated for “braving the killing bombardment to notify the commanding officer that his section had been nearly wiped out”.

Despite being a highly decorated war hero in France, Eugene Bullard received little recognition in the United States, until September 14, 1994 when the U.S. Air Force, under the Administration of President William Jefferson Clinton, posthumously commissioned Bullard a Second Lieutenant.2

Stumbling Across a French National Military Hero and American Expatriate 1 / 3

Co–author Chestley “Ches” Talley grew up in France and Germany as the U.S. Air Force military dependent of MSgt. James and Doretha Talley. Ches’ father was assigned to Camp Guynemer in France, named for World War I flying Ace and National Hero Georges-Marie Guynemer, and later to Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany. Visiting cultural and historical sites while living at those bases kindled Ches’ interest in military history.

Years later, Ches’ Cousin Eddie “Pete” Holmes, Jr. was visiting when he noticed on display a “Black Rattlers” lithograph by internationally renowned artist Don Stivers. This work depicts the 369th Infantry Regiment of the 93rd Division, the Harlem Hellfighters, who fought in France during World War I and “saw more continuous combat and suffered more casualties than any other U.S. military unit during World War I” (www. bing.com). Cousin Pete wondered aloud whether his Step-Father, Alonzo Charles Edmunds who had lived in New York City, could have been a member of the 93rd.

After finding his WWI draft card on Ancestry.com, Ches was able to determine Alonzo was a member of the all-Black 92nd Division who also fought in France at the same time as the Harlem Hellfighters. Making this discovery for his Cousin Pete was when Ches stumbled across the unfamiliar name of a Black American Expatriate and French National Military Hero, Eugene Jacques Bullard.

In Search of a Colorless Society (Part 1): Bullard’s Odyssey from America to France

“The odyssey of Eugene Jacques Bullard is the odyssey of the American Negro’s search for freedom and equality in the Twentieth Century….”

Edward W. Brooke, United States Senator, 1972

Eugene James (later Jacques) Bullard was born October 9, 1894 in Columbus, Georgia as the seventh of ten children just 30 years after slavery was abolished. To support the family, his father William worked as a deliveryman for a brewery, in a warehouse, and as a steamboat stevedore. His mother Josephine was a washer-woman who daily walked considerable distances back-and-forth from home carrying heavy bundles of cleaned laundry. During the most difficult times of racial intimidation and harassment in Columbus, Bullard’s father William was almost lynched by a white mob. With family roots from Martinique, a French territory, William encouraged Eugene to go to France for a better life where all people were treated equally.

Seeking a colorless society, Bullard left home at the age of twelve and wandered the Deep South for five years. He stayed with and worked for a succession of black and white families and surrogate parent-figures in the rural towns of Leesburg, Sasser, Dawson, and other South Georgia communities, including living with two different bands of gypsies. Bullard’s wandering took him farther South to Alabama, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico. Longing for the respect and freedom his father had talked about, Bullard worked his way back North to Atlanta, Georgia in search of a train to Norfolk, Virginia to sail to France.

Bullard had done his homework while in Atlanta to learn the regular schedule for the night train to Richmond, Virginia connecting to Norfolk. When the train pulled into the station at midnight, Bullard hid underneath the dining car. He traveled this way along the Seaboard Air Line Railroad route from Georgia through the Carolinas into Virginia, not disembarking until the train stopped at daybreak on the trestle bridging the James River in Richmond. Bullard was unaware he should have gotten off the train when it stopped in Norlina, North Carolina to switch onto a connecting train to Norfolk. 4a / b

Once in Richmond, Bullard followed “the tracks to a town, where he found lodging with a black family named Hughes with whom he stayed for a week. Mr. Hughes was a brick maker, and [Eugene] was able to work with his crew as a laborer to make some extra money for his voyage across the ocean. He told [Mr. Hughes] that he was heading for the seaport in Norfolk; Hughes told him that there was a nearer port at Newport News”.5 Mr. Hughes helped Bullard navigate the multiple levels and sets of tracks of the Richmond Main Street Station where the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railways operated, so Bullard could be certain to board a train bound for Newport News, Virginia.

Improbable Yet Possible

When Ches came across Eugene Bullard’s account of how he had stayed with, and worked as a laborer on a bricklaying crew for Mr. Hughes, Ches thought about his Aunt Florida E. Talley’s best friends, Calvin Cardwell and Edna Powell Hughes, who lived on the outskirts of Richmond. The “Hughes” family homestead on State Street in the

Fulton neighborhood in Richmond was only four miles east of the Main Street Station, which served both C&O and Seaboard Air Line trains, and was adjacent to C&O’s Fulton Yard, a series of 35 tracks for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives (www.wikipedia.org). 4c

According to the 1920 U.S. Census, Calvin’s father, Adolphus, was a “contractor” living just east of Richmond. Adolphus’ brother Waverly, who lived in the same house, was listed as a brakeman for the C&O Railroad.

Improbable, perhaps, but Bullard’s recollections of walking the tracks to a neighborhood near the train station and meeting “Mr. Hughes”, coupled with the 1920 U.S. Census, strengthens our assertion that Adolphus and Waverly Hughes were the very individuals who employed Eugene as a brickmaking laborer, and made sure he had the correct C&O train schedule for the Newport News (Virginia) station, which was closer than Norfolk, to continue his odyssey to France.

In Search of a Colorless Society

(Part 2): Bullard’s Odyssey from America to France 2 / 5

Bullard’s continuing odyssey was a quest to see what else was possible in a life without the obstacle of racial prejudice, seek a life buoyed by acceptance as a fellow human being, and satisfy a deep longing for respect and kinship.

When Bullard arrived in Newport News his journey was not complete. He had to find a way to get from Newport News to Norfolk. Eugene saw dockworkers carrying crates aboard a cargo ship. He joined the line headdown with a heavy crate on his shoulders and slipped on-board. A few hours later Bullard found himself in Norfolk, and set-about trying to find a ship sailing to France.

Bullard stowed away on the “Marta Russ” German freighter bound for Hamburg. After being discovered aboard ship and put ashore in Aberdeen, Scotland in March 1912, Bullard considered he was lucky an angry Captain Westphal chose not to throw him overboard.

After exploring Aberdeen for a few days, Bullard purchased a train ticket to Glasgow, Scotland where he sang and danced for organ grinders making their rounds throughout the city with hand crank fiddles called hurdy-gurdies. After five months of street performing, Bullard ventured further South into Liverpool, England and closer to France. The twin Industrial and Agricultural revolutions had made Liverpool a place of opportunity. Bullard hired-on as a stevedore—the same dockworker job that allowed his father to make his living in America.

During his time in Liverpool, Bullard started working out in a local gym and took up boxing. He became a prizefighter good enough to win his first lightweight bout. Bullard caught the eye of the 1904 World Welterweight Boxing Champion Aaron Lester Brown, a.k.a. the “Dixie Kid”, who became Bullard’s Manager. Because of Bullard’s repeated requests, the Dixie Kid scheduled a bout in Paris, France for November 28, 1913. Eugene was beside himself with excitement and anticipation that he was finally going to Paris!

Unfortunately for Bullard, he and his Manager had to return to Liverpool after winning the bout. Still, the prizefight was just the motivation Eugene needed to find another opportunity to take him back to France, the next time for good.

American in Paris - Dream

Fulfilled 2 / 5

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams!

Eleanor Roosevelt

The pathway back to Paris became the Vaudeville variety troupe known as Belle Davis’ Freedman’s Pickaninnies. Around December 1913, Bullard joined Belle Davis to sing, dance, and perform slapstick comedy routines across the Continent to Russia and back through Germany, ultimately arriving in France. When the troupe left Paris, Bullard stayed behind!

The Certificate of Registration of American Citizen on file with the American Consulate General in Paris confirmed Eugene Bullard was living in the Republic of France on May 14, 1914. Once back in France, Eugene resumed his career as a boxer, taking fights in and around Paris. Since meeting for the first time in Liverpool, Eugene was able to reconnect with fellow American expatriate and Black boxer Jack Johnson. The Heavyweight Champion of the World, who was also living in Paris, became a mentor to Bullard.

In his own words, Bullard professed to have fallen in love with Paris primarily because “it seemed to [him] that French democracy influenced the minds of both black and white Americans there and helped us all act like brothers as near as possible”. Eugene believed he had fulfilled his quest to find a colorless society—and we, too, believe he did!

World War I –

The French Foreign Legion 2 / 5

“War is hell”

Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman

On August 4, 1914, France declared war on Germany. Later in October 1914, Bullard joined the Foreign Legion and was assigned to the Third Marching Regiment. Bullard’s volunteering to fight for France was a surrogate expression of his firmly entrenched kinship of brotherhood in spirit and mind with the French people.

For nearly two years Bullard served as a Legionnaire in the 170th French Infantry, a.k.a., the Swallows of Death because of their wild bayonet charges. Such charges saw Legionnaire forces mounting attacks with long knives affixed to their rifles. They climbed over the top edge of the protective trenches into the area between opposing forces known as “no man’s land” in a single, straight line under a barrage of gunfire. Bullard became known as the Black Swallow of Death when he fought in some of the most heavily contested battles of the First World War. These engagements included the Battle for Artois Ridge in April 1914, considered one of the most murderous of WWI, and the Battle of Champagne in September 1915, leading up to the Battle of Verdun from February 21st through December 18th, 1916 – “one of the longest, bloodiest, and most ferocious battles of the War” (www.google.com).

In the early stages of the Battle of Verdun in late February 1916 after observing the near total obliteration of the Village of Fleury on February 21st, Bullard remarked, “we were in hell for sure”. Eugene survived “murderous fighting” and participated in combat that was “inconceivably horrific in its butchery”. Trench warfare6 is a military tactic tracing back to the American Civil War—the bloodiest, most savage fighting on American soil pitting brother against brother—that resurfaced in France during this hellish conflict that defined World War I.

Among the troops on the outer perimeter of the defensive lines at the battle-front, Bullard and his fellow combatants were “ordered by the French command to die rather than retreat”, resulting in “two nightmarish weeks” when “the whole front seemed to be moving like a saw backwards and forwards…in which thousands upon thousands died…as earth was plowed under, men and beasts hung from the branches of trees where they had been blown to pieces”. The slaughter was such that the death toll was roughly equal on both sides with 143,000 Germans killed and 162,440 French. Standing on that once blood-soaked land is the Douaumont Ossuary (7). It encloses 22 alcoves housing the tombs representing the 46 different sectors of the battlefield where the unidentifiable remains of 130,000 are interred.

On March 7, 1916, a wounded Bullard, having somehow survived the carnage of the Battle of Verdun, was transported to the Hôtel Dieu Hospital in Lyon to convalesce. The survivors of the battle, especially the wounded like Bullard, would “acquire a kind of sanctification in the eyes of the French people”. Once Eugene recovered from his battle wounds, he received an invitation to join the French Air Service.

World War I –Americans Flying for the French Air Service 2 / 5

Owing to his steadfast courage and exceptional bravery under fire after two years in the infantry, Bullard was invited to join the nascent French Air Service as a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps. This was the name describing all of the American pilots who had volunteered to fly for France in WWI.

Between November 30, 1916 and August 20, 1917, Bullard attended French aviation schools at Cazeaux,

Tours, and Avord. Eugene received his pilot’s license on May 5, 1917. After completing military flight training on July 20, 1917, Bullard received his Brevet No. 6259 on the Caudron (commission and pilot’s wings). Thereafter, on August 27, 1917, Eugene was assigned to the “crack Groupe Brocard” Escadrille SPAD 93 Fighter Squadron, named for one of France’s great airmen. Bullard remarked in his Journal: “You can just imagine how proud I was to have been chosen to be a member of such an outfit of distinction”.

During aerial patrol at 6,000 feet on September 8, 1917, the French Squadron spotted four German bombers being escorted by 16 fighters. The French claimed all four bombers and two of their escorts. Upon returning to Base, two of Bullard’s fellow pilots were missing. Eugene had fired 75 rounds from his machine gun and been hit in the plane’s tail section seven times. While flying with Escadrille SPAD 93, Bullard, like many other pilots, reported the downing of enemy planes. These actions were not reported as ‘official kills’ because French Air Service authorities required corroborating eyewitness accounts.

On September 13, 1917, Bullard was transferred to the Escadrille SPAD 85 Fighter Squadron. During one sortie on November 7th, Eugene was engaged in ‘dogfighting’ combat with a German “Fokker” aero plane, finally shooting down the Fokker before Bullard, himself, was forced to crash-land near enemy lines. The barrage of enemy fire was so intense; there were 96 holes in his “stricken craft”.8a

The United States Air Force Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events spanning 1903 through 2002 (Haulman, 2003)8b officially confirmed: “1917 November 7: Eugene J. Bullard, an American in French service, became the first black fighter pilot to claim an aerial victory.”

The United States

Enters World War I 9 / 14 Eugene Bullard was one of 269 American volunteers flying for the French Air Service under the designation Lafayette Flying Corps.

American combat pilots were assigned across 92 fighter squadrons including Bullard’s Escadrille SPAD 93 and SPAD 85 Units.

The largest, most famous squadron of American combat pilots was Escadrille Lafayette N.124, the “Flyboys”. Throughout WWI tales of the “Flyboys” spread around the globe. The notoriety surrounding their aerial successes was an effective ‘publicity tool’ for those advocating for the United States to join the War. Later, the Squadron’s combat exploits would be celebrated on the Silver Screen in the 1958 movies Lafayette Escadrille (USA), C’est la guerre (France), Hell Bent for Glory (UK), and the movie Flyboys (USA) in 2006 (IMDb.com).

On April 6, 1917 the United States entered the War. Later that Fall the Lafayette Flying Corp of American pilots in service to France would become the foundation on which the U.S. Army Air Service was built. By February 1918, all but one of the estimated 213 surviving combat pilots would be offered a commission to transfer from the French to the U.S. Air Service.

Eugene Bullard was that one American combat pilot who was not offered a commission to join the newly formed U.S. 103rd Aero Pursuit Squadron, despite commanding the respect of all with whom he flew and being admired for his courage and skill as a combat pilot. Unlike France, the United States military had a policy that did not allow Blacks to serve as combat pilots. A 1920s War Department Report stated that “blacks weren’t intelligent or disciplined enough to fly a plane”.

The Jazz Age in Paris –

Le Grand Duc and L’Escadrille 2 / 5 /15 / 16

After the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 to end World War I, Bullard remained in France and became a successful entrepreneur. During the Jazz Age, Black culture shaped 1920s’ and 1930s’ Paris, the City of Light.

Eugene opened a Jazz Club named Le Grand Duc in the American expatriate community in Montmartre, and a café named for his former flying unit called “L’Escadrille”.

The nightclubs of this American in Paris showcased famous jazz club performers like Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and renowned singer “Bricktop”. Noteworthy visitors included Horace Elgin Dodge Sr., automobile manufacturing pioneer; tobacco scion Richard Reynolds; famous actors Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and Gloria Swanson; writer F. Scott Fitzgerald; the future British King, Edward the VIII; and Ernest Hemingway, who based a minor character on Bullard in The Sun Also Rises. Arthur “Dooley” Wilson who famously sang “As Time Goes by” as “Sam” in the 1942 film Casablanca was a frequent patron. In his autobiography The Big Sea, Langston Hughes talks about the time when he worked for Bullard at Le Grand Duc.

World War II – Spying for the French Resistance 2 / 5 /15 / 18 “J’ai Deux Amours”, I have two loves, my country and Paris.

Josephine Baker

Bullard was recruited early in 1939 by the French counterintelligence network comprised of the military intelligence service, Le Deuxième Bureau, and the Special Commissaries of Police. Inspector George Leplanquais, Paris Municipal Special Police, knew about Bullard’s “aptitude in the German language and asked him to eavesdrop on and engage in conversations with German patrons in L’Escadrille”.

While spying for French military intelligence, Bullard recruited Josephine Baker to join him as a spy. After WWII for her service to France, Baker was awarded the Resistance Medal by the French Committee of National Liberation (17), the Croix de Guerre by the French military, and was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor) in 1961 by General Charles de Gaulle. In Paris on November 30, 2021, France inducted the late Josephine Baker into the Pantheon, becoming the first Black woman to receive the Nation’s highest honor. French President Emmanuel Macron declared his Nation had to honor Baker [Bullard’s protégé] as the “exceptional figure” who “embodies the French spirit”. 18

Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940 while Bullard was serving with the 51st French Infantry. Because the

French Resistance feared Eugene would be executed if captured by the Nazi, Bullard fled over the Pyrenees Mountains to Lisbon, Portugal to book passage on a ship to America. Eugene arrived in New York City on July 18, 1940.

Bullard’s Legacy

Against all odds and obstacles, he made it. How he made it is a story of guts and courage.

Henry Scott Harris

Eugene Bullard is credited as leading the pathway to the skies for fellow Black trailblazing pilots Bessie Coleman and the Tuskegee Airmen.

Bessie Coleman: Black Aviatrix Pioneer 19 / 21

During the 1920s and ‘30s, America was captivated by the record setting exploits of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. Aspirations to become pilots shared by Black Americans were met with a lack of role models bolstered by laws and practices barring Blacks from attending aviation schools.

Bessie Coleman was born one of thirteen children in 1892 in Atlanta, Texas and moved to Chicago in 1916 at the age of 25. It was the Black Publisher of the Chicago Defender, Robert Abbott, with his familiarity about Eugene Bullard’s aviation success in France, who was the catalyst advocating for Coleman to go to France to get a Pilot’s license. On November 20, 1920, Coleman sailed from New York to France “armed with the determination and sacrifices of Bullard, Quimby and la Roche… She was not to be denied”.

Coleman enrolled in France’s most famous flight school, Ecole d’Aviation des Freres Cadron et Le Crotoy, managed by French aviators and plane designers Gaston and Réne Caudron. Bessie earned her international pilot’s license No. 18.310 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921. Coleman returned to New York on September 29, 1921 to congratulatory greetings, but only from several national Black newspapers like the Chicago Defender. In May 1922, Coleman returned to Europe seeking advanced aviation training with the famous WWI German Ace Pilot, Captain Keller, and test piloted airplanes in the Netherlands for WWI Ace and fighter plane designer Anthony the “Flying Dutchman” Fokker. This time when Bessie returned to New York on August 14, 1922, she was greeted by “The New York Times” and “Chicago Tribune”, because “leading French and Dutch aviators [were celebrating Coleman] as one of the best flyers they had seen”.

On September 3, 2022, Bessie Coleman in spirit was still blazing the path to the skies on the 100th Anniversary of her First Air Show Exhibition on Labor Day, September 3, 1922, at Curtis Airfield in Garden City, Long Island (NY). To celebrate this milestone, American Airlines hosted the Bessie Coleman Aviation All-Stars Tour from Dallas (TX) to Phoenix (AZ) commemorating the first public flight by a Black woman: “She bravely broke down barriers within the world of aviation and paved the path for many to follow”.

(CNN, 20 Aug. 2022) 21

The Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails” 22 / 29 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, remembering Eugene Bullard’s success in France and knowing his plight of being barred from flying in the U.S. Army Air Service, decided to try to influence a change in the U.S. Military’s policy of not allowing Blacks to serve as combat pilots, especially during the time when America was experiencing a shortage of pilots in World War II.

Flying 11,000 feet above Alabama on April 11, 1941 with the First Lady in the back seat of a J-3 Piper Cub light aircraft, Tuskegee Institute Chief Civilian Flight Instructor Charles Alfred Anderson, known today as “The Father of Black Aviation”, was at the controls. Anderson was the self-taught pilot who had established a civilian pilot training program at Tuskegee Institute in 1939. The First Lady insisted their flight be photographed to show President Franklin Roosevelt that Black pilots, indeed, were capable and skilled enough for consideration as combat pilots. Later, the President ordered the Pentagon to change the Military’s policy of excluding Blacks from “combat” flight training. Nearly 1,000 Black pilots completed training at Tuskegee Institute from 1941 to 1946.

The Tuskegee Airmen, comprising the 99th Fighter Squadron and 332nd Fighter Group, were America’s First

Black Military Pilots. They flew bomber escort missions in the Mediterranean and Europe. Their fighters were easily identifiable by the blood red color of the planes’ tail section. Following in the aerial path blazed by Eugene Bullard, the Tuskegee Airmen had the lowest loss records of all the escort fighter groups, and were “in constant demand for their services by the allied bomber units…a record unmatched by any other fighter group”.

Postscript to Bullard’s Legacy

Whereas Bullard was the role model for Bessie Coleman and the Tuskegee Airmen, today’s aviators of color must pick up Eugene’s mantle as the inspiration for Blacks to want to become pilots. Within the ranks of the U.S. Air Force, pilots of color must make themselves known and visible. According to USAF demographics, only 2% of pilots are Black (while 3.5% of the U.S. population).

Advancing Bullard’s legacy now falls to aviators like Julián “Diesel” Benton, 47th Operations Group Deputy

Commander: “I’m the only black Lieutenant Colonel pilot on this base… It’s important for student pilots to see me.” (47th Flying Training Wing, 25 Feb. 2021) 30

Pursuing Broader Recognition in America of Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard’s exploits as an American expatriate and decorated WWI Combat Pilot in France are virtually unknown in the United States. How we can remedy this lack of name recognition is by encouraging the writing of more articles like ours to acquaint Americans with the World’s First Black Combat Pilot to raise awareness of and knowledge about unsung influencers like Bullard.

Next, we would petition for a U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp memorializing Eugene Jacques Bullard as was done for fellow aviation pioneers Bessie Coleman, Charles Alfred Anderson, the Tuskegee Airmen, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart.

After stumbling across a decorated Black American War Hero who was completely unknown to him, Ches was compelled to discover why a person of color who had served in both World Wars with honor and distinction was anonymous—nearly nonexistent, invisible in the cultural consciousness of America. Ches began to ponder what he, an individual, could do to garner visibility and recognition for Bullard.

Ches recalled seeing an interview with the late Gen. Colin Powell. Behind him was the “Tracking Victorio” lithograph by Don Stivers depicting Henry Flipper, the first Black graduate of West Point and his troop of Buffalo Soldiers pursuing Victorio, an Apache Warrior and Chief. An unexpected outcome of the televised interview was to make the Buffalo Soldiers a household name. Seeing how national visibility of and awareness about the Buffalo Soldiers exploded, Ches reached out to Mr. Stivers to gauge his interest in creating an original oil painting with Bullard as the subject. Mr. Stivers commented: ‘young man, I have been painting military subjects for decades, and I’ve never heard of Eugene Bullard’. After Ches shared a summary of Bullard’s military career, Mr. Stivers accepted the commission.

In an apparent indictment of the racial discrimination he faced as a youth, Bullard had painted a bleeding heart pierced by a knife on the fuselage of his SPAD S.VII aero plane along with an emboldening affirmation that became the title of Ches’ commissioned portrait: “Tout Sang Coule Rouge”, All Blood Runs Red.

Joining us in our endeavor is Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Second District of Georgia, United States House of Representatives in Washington, the District of Columbia. Representative Bishop agreed to write a Letter of Support to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee’s Stamp Development Team of the United States Postal Service, in concurrence with our proposal that a commemorative stamp “would honor Bullard’s contributions to our country’s rich history for his brave service and his influential role in ending the policy that prohibited Black soldiers from serving as pilots in the United States Armed Forces, as well as inspire future generations of American leaders”. 31 ■ chestley@aol.com;

LinkedIn: Chestley Talley Call: (US): +1-804-721-7755

Notes: “TOUT SANG COULE ROUGE” ALL BLOOD RUNS RED

1. “Georges-Marie Guynemer.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/GeorgesMarie-Guynemer. See SPAD VII Aces of World War I (Book #39 in the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Series) by Jon Guttman.

2. Carisella, P. J., and James W. Ryan. The Black Swallow of Death: The Incredible Story of Eugene Jacques Bullard, the World’s First Black Combat Aviator. Marlborough House, 1972.

3. C. Talley, personal communication, June 5, 2022. Mrs. Doretha Talley, personal communication, September 11, 2022. Mrs. Denise Holmes, personal communication, September 11, 2022. Larry Hughes, personal communication, September 11, 2022.

4a. “Map of the Seaboard Air Line and Its Principal Connections North, South, East & West, 1896.” The Library of Congress, https:// www.loc.gov/resource/g3706p.rr005550/.

4b “Port Cities in Virginia.” (n.d.). Port Cities in Virginia, http:// www.virginiaplaces.org/vacities/24port.html. Accessed 18 June 2022.

4c Daily, Larry Z. “C&O For Progress: Chesapeake & Ohio Piedmont Subdivision.” Richmond, Virginia: C&O Milepost 85 (Fulton Yard-Main Street Station), 1997, https://www.piedmontsub.com/Richmond.shtml.

5. Lloyd, Craig. Eugene Bullard: All Blood Runs Red. Eugene Bullard: Black Expatriate in Jazz Age Paris (EB: ABRR). 2006th ed., University of Georgia Press, 2006. Annotated Note [37.Ibid.] to Craig Lloyd’s Eugene Bullard biography.

6. https://www.history.com/news/life-in-the-trenches-of-world-war-i

7. http://www.warmemorialhq.org/om/items/show/243. Douaumont Ossuary.

8a. “Eugene Jacques Bullard: America’s First Black Military Aviator.” National Museum of the United States Air Force™ (NMUSAF), n.d., https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/FactSheets/Display/Article/197458/eugene-jacques-bullard/.

8b. Chan, Amy. “Eugene Bullard: The World’s First Black Pilot.” HistoryNet, HistoryNet, 9 Apr. 2022, https://www.historynet.com/eugene-bullardamericas-first-black-fighter-pilot/. Combat was almost a daily occurrence over Verdun at that juncture. During a dogfight on November 7, Bullard finally drove an opponent down, only to be attacked in turn and crashland in French lines with 96 bullet holes in his plane.

9. “About the Lafayette Escadrille: The Lafayette Escadrille Memorial Rededication.” The Doughboy Foundation. About - World War I Centennial: The History of the Squadron, https://www. worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about-the-lafayette-escadrille. html. The Lafayette Escadrille was the brainchild of three individuals: Mr. Norman Prince of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. William Thaw of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dr. Edmond Gros, an American expatriate living in France. Seeking to aid the Allied cause, they lobbied officials in Paris to create an all-American squadron within the French Air Service for the purpose of generating the positive propaganda value Americans flying under the French flag could afford in garnering United States support for the Allied cause (World War I). French officials approved the concept on August 21st, 1915. The new squadron, officially designated N.124 and SPAD 124, The Lafayette Escadrille, was formed eight months later under the command of French Air Service Captain George Thenault.

10. Sherman, Stephen. “Lafayette Escadrille American Volunteer Pilots in WWI.” Lafayette Escadrille Pilots – History behind the Movie ‘Flyboys’. 12 Apr. 2012, http://acepilots.com/wwi/lafayette.html.

11. Gordon, Dennis. The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One. Schiffer Pub., 2000.

12. Hall, James Norman, and Charles Bernard Nordhoff, editors. The Lafayette Flying Corps During the First World War. Vol. 1, Oakpast Ltd, 2014. First published under the titles The Lafayette Flying Corps Volumes & 2.

13. “U.S. Department of Defense.” The U.S. Air Service in World War I, Vol 1, Pp. 74-76, https://media.defense.gov/2010/Oct/13/2001329758/-1/-1/0/ AFD-101013-007.pdf.

14. White Jr, Gerald A. “Tuskegee (weather) airmen: Black meteorologists in World War II.” Air Power History 53.2 (2006): 20-31. See Tuskegee Institute: The 66th Air Force Flying School.

15. “Paris Featuring the African American Experience: Sat, May 23, 2020 to Sun, May 31, 2020.” Paris Featuring the African American Experience | GW Alumni Association | The George Washington University, https:// www.alumni.gwu.edu/paris-featuring-african-american-experience.

16. Harris, Henry Scott. All Blood Runs Red: Life and Legends of Eugene Jacques Bullard, First Black American Military Aviator. 2012th ed., EBookIt.com.

17. https://www.britannica.com search?query=French+committee+of+national+liberation

18. “Photos: Josephine Baker Becomes the First Black Woman to Be Inducted into France’s Pantheon.” Edited by Times Wire Service Paris, Times Wire Service, 30 Nov. 2021, https://timeswireswrvice.com/.

19. Family of Bessie Coleman, email collaboration with Bessie Coleman family, July 12, 2022. The Coleman family hopes that you find the information on this website useful and resourceful. We have shared a bit of Coleman family fun and have also included information about the many men and women who have fulfilled Aunt Bessie’s dreams. We plan to update this website quarterly, so if you have news to share and/or someone who you think we should feature please email us. We would love the opportunity to represent Bessie Coleman at your venue. So please feel free to contact us for speaking engagements including “The Life of Bessie Coleman”. Email us at info@bessiecoleman.org.

20. Dawson, Virginia Parker, and Mark D. Bowles, eds. Realizing the Dream of Flight: Biographical Essays in Honor of the Centennial of Flight, 1903-2003. Vol. 4112. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Division, Office of External Relations, 2005.

21. Pequenino, Karla. “All-BLACK WOMEN CREW Operates American Airlines Flight from Dallas in Honor of Trailblazer Bessie Coleman.” MSN, CNN.com, 20 Aug. 2022, https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ news/all-black-women-crew-operates-american-airlines-flight-fromdallas-in-honor-of-trailblazer-bessie-coleman/ar-AA10SHcC?ocid=msed gntp&cvid=209e55d41acb452d9860f4c3da0ac901.

22. History.com Editors. “Tuskegee Airmen: Segregation in the Armed Forces.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, https:// www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/tuskegee-airmen. The program’s trainees, nearly all of them college graduates or undergraduates came from all over the country. In addition to some 1,000 pilots, the Tuskegee program trained nearly 14,000 navigators, bombardiers, instructors, aircraft and engine mechanics, control tower operators and other maintenance and support staff.

23. Tate, James P. The Army and Its Air Corps: Army Policy toward Aviation, 1919-1941. AIR UNIV MAXWELL AFB AL, 1998. End Note 83.

24. “Eleanor Roosevelt and Charles Anderson, 1941.” MIT Black History, https://www.blackhistory.mit.edu/archive/eleanor-roosevelt-andcharles-anderson-1941.

25. “Tuskegee Airmen: Image of Eleanor Roosevelt (Center) and Charles E. Anderson (Right) at Tuskegee Army Air Field after a Test Flight with the First Lady in the passenger seat.” MIT Black History, 11 Apr. 1941, https://www.blackhistory.mit.edu/story/tuskegee-airmen.

26. “Tuskegee Airmen Connecting Flights at MIT.” Tuskegee Institute: the 66th Air Force Flying School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1 Aug. 2022, https://www.web.mit.edu/.

27. “Eleanor Roosevelt and the Tuskegee Airmen.” FDR Presidential Library & Museum, https://www.fdrlibrary.org/tuskegee. On April 3, 1939, President Roosevelt approved Public Law 18 expanding the Army Air Corps. It called for the creation of training programs to be located at black colleges. On January 16, 1941, the War Department announced the creation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, an all-black flying unit trained at the Tuskegee Institute.

28. “Tuskegee Airmen: Tuskegee Experiment.” Tuskegee University, History. com Editors. Updated: Jan 26, 2021. Original: Nov 9, 2009, https://www. tuskegee.edu/support-tu/tuskegee-airmen/tuskegee-airmen-facts.

29. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/FactSheets/Display/Article/196137/civilian-pilot-training-program/

30. 47th Flying Training Wing, 2nd Lt Rachael Parks. “How Many Black Pilots Do You Know?” Air Education and Training Command, Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, 25 Feb. 2021, https://www.aetc.af.mil/News/ Article-Display/Article/2517568/how-many-black-pilots-do-you-know/.

31. The Honorable Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Second District of Georgia, Member of Congress of the United States House of Representatives, official written communication, August 3, 2022.

The G20 and the UN Conference of Parties (COP) over the last few years have made clear that urgent global action needs to be taken towards Sustainability and extensive funding is required to make tangible progress if we are to reach the target of halving CO2 emissions within a decade. G20 Nations have therefore made collective commitments towards Sustainability investments, also outlining Sustainability future requirements. Equally, G20 nations have agreed on a global growth target of at least 2%. The challenge is evident and eloquently outlined in figure 1 below, by H. Nordborg [“COP is a Planned Failure”, November 2022], considering that the world is still recovering from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and going through energy and food crises posed by the geopolitical unrest caused by the war in Ukraine.

At the G20 in Bali under the Indonesian Presidency, the message was clear: the real challenge is not understanding “WHAT” to do, the objectives are clear, it is rather “HOW” to achieve them. The 2023 G20 India Presidency embraces this objective targeting actionable policy recommendations on priorities towards responsible, accelerated, innovative, sustainable, and equitable businesses.

To deliver the ambitious gaols set by the G20 Sustainability agenda, resources alone will not be sufficient if firms face difficulties in accessing funds due to high regulatory and transaction costs, long-dated inherent risks, and fragmented ecosystems. These obstacles are most palpable for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), who appear to have been left behind in the agenda, despite being the largest employers globally. To deliver such ambitions policymakers are required to strive for both comprehensive and complementary policies that target inclusive economic growth, productivity, and stability as core objectives. Moreover, the operationalisation of these commitments represents a unique opportunity, but also a key prerequisite to address issues that have long curtailed productivity and growth. Such policies can be deployed in practice to accelerate key enablers like the systemic ability to net payments that will bolster working capital of firms at all stages of Global Value Chains (GVCs). The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that GVCs are essential enablers across world economies. Efficient GVCs ensure timely payment flows and support the optimisation of working capital on the buyer side and generate operating cash flow on the supplier side. In turn, they enable domestic commercial activity and provide working capital to local businesses, critical for middle income economies facing significant financing gaps. →

→ The use of digital tools and global data standards, such as the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), can prove essential to reduce costs and fragmented approaches across borders for the business community and help set the stage for better risk management information in future.

The extraordinary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has served as an unprecedented wake-up call highlighting the fragility of our systems. At the same time, the pandemic has shown that coordinated efforts can successfully counteract such fragility: vaccines being a primary example. As the OECD put it in 2020, “the deep interconnectedness and interdependence of global systems imply that any local crisis can rapidly scale up to contribute to planetary environmental, social, economic, and political emergencies.”

[“Confronting Planetary EmergenciesSolving Human Problems”, OECD, 2020]

The pandemic has shown that a significant policy challenge does not only encompass adopting sustainable solutions to reduce global crises, but critically revolves around the need to implement such policies in a coordinated and cooperative way at a global level: without cross-border and cross-policy coherence, investments cannot really deliver their full potential. The G7 in Germany this year “urged to actively cooperate to reach standards that can be implemented globally” [G7, 2022].

As part of the G20 Indonesia, the B20, the Business at OECD (BIAC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), published a joint paper [“To deliver the sustainability agenda, barriers to liquidity and productivity must be addressed”, B20-BIAC-IOE, 2022] that proposes a dynamic conceptual framework of concrete actions in support of Sustainability, advancing the work of previous presidencies. This framework, named “Sustainable Growth Propeller” (figure 2 below), envisions a balanced approach aimed at raising efficiencies by reducing bureaucracy while increasing transparency and traceability, as well as facilitating firms’ access to wider markets.

This paper looks at the G20 Sustainability 2030 Agenda from firms’ perspective: it focuses on economic growth, financial stability, and productivity within environmental and social boundaries. The paper proposes an inclusive framework that allows to deliver environmental projects and maximise social sustainability, generating an lasting virtuous circle. Governments need to support all firms’ working capital by removing obstacles and cumulative burdens preventing them from accessing funds, which otherwise would impede the intended growth trajectory.

Such an operating environment is key to facilitate the transition towards a sustainable and internationally inclusive global economy. Environmentally-led investments are the ideal opportunity to test innovative ideas to facilitate payments and working capital, making them more efficient throughout GVCs, across both borders and sectors, which in turn can act as an durable flywheel that sparks employment and knowhow, aiding social sustainability.

The vision introduced by the “Sustainable Growth Propeller” is aimed at all firms, but may particularly benefit MSMEs who face proportionately higher cumulative regulatory and administrative burdens relative to their resources, as well as a tougher borrowing environment. Improving firms’ productivity in delivering the Sustainability agenda is a perfect case in point for concrete policy intervention to aid economic recovery while fostering progress towards environmental targets: a win-win opportunity.

Recommendations to the G20

The “Sustainable Growth Propeller” concept offers a powerful enabler towards delivering the Sustainability agenda, and simultaneously fast-tracking inclusive economic growth and job creation,. It advances the “GVC Passport” concept [B20-BIAC, 2020] and leverages on all existing enablers such as globally coherent use of digital platforms and data standards, which are required to facilitate payments that efficiently meet all relevant ESG requirements. Their use will enable financing to be accessible to both MSMEs as well as larger corporates.

• Stability: G20 Leaders should set a goal of cross-border and cross-policy harmonisation, as well as encourage mechanisms to assess firms’ cumulative regulatory burdens throughout the GVCs. As ESG rules and regulations are set and implemented, it is critical to avoid unintended consequences. Ultimately, efficiency will result from a stable, coherent and inclusive regulatory environment, a “must” to meet the Sustainability objectives. By way of example, sustainability reporting requirements need to consider firms’ productivity by harmonising rules, while avoiding formalistic rigidities that obstruct data usage. Moreover, governments need to enable a shift towards both electronic data verification compliance and digitalisation of documents.

• Productivity: Both governments and firms need to enhance both access and use of digital platforms and highly efficient information and communication networks. Data and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) play a crucial role in creating trusted sources of standardised information across GVCs. As DLTs hold much richer data sets than any one existing system today, they could be used as baseline infrastructure to enable a safer, seamless, and more efficient flow of goods between digitally interconnected trading partners (vs. loosely connected in traditional processes). Nonetheless, DLTs will require agreed encryption standards and mechanisms to ensure they can be trusted on a longterm enduring basis, while also ensuring transparency and payment “traceability.”

• Economic Growth: G20 Leaders should leverage the Sustainability Agenda’s funding and investments to support GVC ecosystems, by freeing up firms’ blocked working capital needs. A resulting benefit would be to aid firms, suppliers, and public administrations to increase efficiencies such as timely meeting of invoices as well as netting payments, thereby improving timeliness of payments and increasing firms’ working capital, thus propelling benefits across the global economy (including levels of employment). ■

The Sustainable Growth Propeller

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Productivity

STABILITY a) Cross-border & cross-policy coherence b) Efficiency mechanisms like the GVC passport

Value Chains cascade to SMEs

GVCs cascade the work, the benefits, the requirements and standards to a wider a much audience of smaller firms, fostering also inclusiveness.

Funding

• Channelling government Funding to meet the Sustainability agenda

• Funding required as cascade of the Sustainability agenda

• Sustainability requirements to access runding

GVC ecosystems supporting Sustainability investments a) Data verification b) Materially improve documentation flow c) Leverage digital platforms

Wider Economy & Employment

GVCs & SMEs

Larger Firms

Banks / Fls Projects

Structural, inclusive & sustainable growth

Main commissions

• A firm taking on an infrastructure project

• Firms updating to comply with the Sustainability agenda

Sustainability Agenda

• Sustainability projects

• lnfrastructure projects