of Verdun. Fights occurred on almost every sortie; all the pilots whose planes were in commission, besides the ones who stayed behind on guard, would leave early and average from four to six on a sortie, unless too many flights had been ordered for that day, in which case only two or three went out at a time. The Germans seldom crossed into French territory, unless on a bombarding jaunt, and thus practically all the fighting took place on the German side of the line. After the Battle of Verdun, McConnell was given a new plane on which the 500-round Vickers machine gun was synchronized with the propeller. This was the era of dogfights high above the battlefields, of "aces" who shot down five enemy planes, of hot pursuit, of the last resort of individualism in the midst of mechanized warfare. Death McConnell was flying in the area of St.-Quentin when two German planes shot him down on March 19, 1917. He was the last American pilot of the squadron to die under French colors before America entered the war in April,1917. Both the plane and his body were found by the French, and he was buried at the site of his death, in a meadow at the edge of the village of Jussy, and was later reinterred at the Lafayette Escadrille memorial near Paris upon his father's wishes. McConnell was commemorated with a plaque by the French Government and a statue by Gutzon Borglum at the University of Virginia, as well as an obelisk on the court square of his home town of Carthage, North Carolina. The monument bears an inscription reading in part, "He fought for Humanity, Liberty and Democracy, lighted the way for his countrymen and showed all men how to dare nobly and to die gloriously." In his final letter, found among his effects, McConnell wrote: "My burial is of no import. Make it as easy as possible on yourselves. I have no religion and do not care for any service. If the omission would embarrass you, I presume I could stand the performance. "Good luck to the rest of you. God damn Germany and Vive la France." The Aviator Alumni of Virginia and friends of McConnell commissioned a statue, The Aviator, by Gutzon Borglum, that now adorns the grounds of the University of Virginia. The statue's base reads: "Soaring like an eagle into new heavens