LM 5618 Sdt Denis Dowd, 170e Regiment d'Infanterie.
Born in New York (of Irish descent) on 22 April 1887, Denis was a graduate of Columbia University. After graduation in 1911, he became a lawyer in Georgetown before travelling to France shortly after the outbreak of war to enlist in the 2nd Regiment de Marche of the 2nd Regiment Etranger in Paris. Denis served in the Champagne, then in Alsace, but he returned to the Champagne and took part in the great offensive of September 1915. He was wounded in action near Souain on 19 October 1915. Following his recovery (by which time he had become engaged to the daughter of a professor at the Sorbonne) and the disbandment/amalgamation of the various Regiments de Marche de Regiment Etranger in November 1915, Denis transferred to the 170th Regiment d'Infanterie (nicknamed ‘The Swallows of Death') of the French metropolitan army, from which he entered the French aviation service. As a student at the Aviation School at Buc, Oise, Denis was killed in an accidental crash during a preliminary flight immediately prior to obtaining his brevet and he was buried at Asnieres, near St.Germain. Following the building of the Escadrille Lafayette memorial near Paris, however, his body was transferred to the crypt at this site.
11 August 1916
Research by David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
