About This Image

With cut paper caption that dates the photo to October 15, 1933. The caption for this rare image of black American military personnel prior to WWII reads: \"Band of 372nd Infantry, Massachusetts National Guard, parading by the side of The Trinity Church, where the Lt. Norman Prince Memorial Services are to be held.\"

Norman Prince reportedly invited W. Starling Burgess and Augustus Herring to try out their flying machine at his family estate while his parents were in Europe and the young Prince was supposed to be studying. This became the first airplane flight in New England.

In January 1915 Norman Prince, who was the son of a Boston financier, was an American Volunteer in the French Army to serve until the end of World War I. He was assigned to the Military Aviation and served with high honors. He was one of the founders of the Escadrille Americaine, later to be known as the Lafayette Flying Squadron.

When the United States entered the War in 1917, his squadron carried the first American flag that appeared on any battlefield in World War I. Lieut. Norman Prince served with great honor and was decorated by the French Government with Croix de Guerre, the Medaille Militaire and the Croix de la Legion d\'Honneur.

On October 12, 1916 Lieut. Prince and other members of his squadron were assigned to convoy a French bombarding fleet in an aerial raid on Oberndorf, a German arms and munition center located in Vosges near the Plains of Alsace. He was on his way back from this raid when his plane struck an aerial cable in the darkness while he was endeavoring to land. Lieut. Norman Prince was badly injured and on Sunday morning, October 15, 1916, he died at age 29. On his deathbed he was promoted to sous lieutenant and awarded the Legion of Honor. His body was returned to the United States in May 1937 and buried in an elaborate tomb at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

See Ref.#11002 for a companion piece.

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