The Magnificant Seven in September 1914
Brave men and women from my new book
Rare photo of the Americans who persuaded their countrymen to go to war for France 954 days before their country did.
Seven American volunteers photographed in September 1914 in Toulouse in France a month after they had joined the French Foreign Legion and a few weeks before they were sent to the front. It was an amazing lot that only a war can bring together. I think I have identified them: (standing) Georges Casmeze, a businessman who took the initiative to summon the American volunteers when France went to war; Charles Sweeny, a soldier-of-fortune and later friend of Hemingway; Jack Casey, a talented artist from San Francisco, who did some wonderful sketches of his comrades in the trenches; Bert Hall, a talkative adventurer of many trades; (sitting) James Stewart Carstairs, a rich artist and art collector who committed suicide; William Thaw, son of one of America’s richest families and finally James Bach, a mechanical engineer who in 1915 with Hall and Thaw joined the famous Escadrille Lafayette.
The seven men in the photo belonged to a group of 44 American volunteers, who joined the Foreign Legion in Paris in August 1914. After years of research, I know the personal history of each of these men, and in my new book “Fighting for The French Foreign Legion”, I try to tell how every one of them gave a valuable contribution to modern history, and strengthened relations between France and America.
