Rheno shows that he had the entrepreneur spirit judging by his occupation in 1916!.............Also is his passport to France in 1916 to enlist in the Legion........ Contents of one of his two wallets.
Rheno shows that he had the entrepreneur spirit judging by his occupation in 1916!.............Also is his passport to France in 1916 to enlist in the Legion........ Contents of one of his two wallets.
Some more citation and documents: One being a close-up of his Criox de Guerre Citation
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this group is the overall completeness of Rheno's life from 1915 to till the time of his death in 1918. It also tell the story of the pride and the desire of his family to preserve his memory. The artifacts pertaining to the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial in France and his brother going to the dedication, is nothing short of remarkable. I doubt that there is any other collection of LFE Memorial documents that is this complete extant today. .............. When Walter's body was returned to Martha's Vineyard, the leaden plaque was removed from his original casket and returned with his body to his mother. The grave marker was removed from his cross and returned as well.......The aluminum straps were used to seal the coffin that was shipped from France to the Vineyard.... The family saved it all!
Walter's final stop...Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, USA............................................... ........................The LFE Memorial in 1928 and his casket in the tomb of the memorial.
When i started going through the group, I came across this streamer. I could not for the life of me put any meaning to it other than it was a LFE Memorial dedication piece. Not until I read a letter from the French Consulate was the answer made clear. ..... It was the ribbon that draped the Rheno's casket in the Tomb of the LFC pilots for a period of 6 months after the dedication on July 4, 1928. All LFC pilots that died during the war could be interred in the Tomb if the family desired. All caskets were named for the deceased. If you look closely in the above post, you can see an identical ribbon over the far right coffin. The ribbon was mailed to Walter's mother by the French Consulate with a letter of explanation.
Dennis,
This is something the whole world should see. Even people who have no interest in this time period should see what sacrifice and honor truly looks like. I don't know what else to say, I have run out of adjectives.
I truly hope I can finally get up to your neck of the woods in the near future to see this group in person...errr...and see you too of course.
[B][COLOR=Black][SIZE=3][FONT=Book Antiqua][I] Steve[/I][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]
[CENTER][I][FONT=Georgia][COLOR=orange]Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?[/COLOR][/FONT]
[/I][/CENTER]
[B]
[SIZE=3][COLOR=lemonchiffon][I][CENTER][FONT=Georgia]"Fly on dear boy, from this dark world of strife. On to the promised land to eternal life"[/FONT][/CENTER]
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I can well remember reading of the exploits of this man when i was a kid 40 odd years ago and to now see the uniform and all of the attendant paperwork. Simply remarkable. It was tales of the LE and other early aviators that put me on the road to my pilots license and all the attendant joys that that has entailed. I truly thank you for posting this!!!
Gary
Some shots of the Memorial as construction was nearing the end. Rheno's name is engraved on the Right leg of the arch. Will provide a close up later.
Some RARE paperwork and correspondence from the LFE Memorial Foundation to the family.
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