DAVID WOOSTER KING (1883-1975), a native of Providence, Rhode Island, was a student at Harvard University from 1912-1914 when he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in August 1914 and, later the ...voir plusDAVID WOOSTER KING (1883-1975), a native of Providence, Rhode Island, was a student at Harvard University from 1912-1914 when he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in August 1914 and, later the French Army. He served with the 170th Regiment and, after being wounded, was transferred the 81st Heavy Artillery. When America entered WWI in 1917, he was released from the French Army and commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in November 1917.
King saw action at Verdun, the Somme, Champagne, and, although he was shot and twice buried alive, he survived all four years of the war, earning him the Croix de Guerre from the French government. After the war, he travelled through Afghanistan in a Buick and worked as a jute merchant in India. He also wrote a book about his experiences in the Legion and the French Army, “L.M.8046”: An Intimate Story of the French Foreign Legion, published in 1927.
He had a daughter, Louise Wooster King (1937-2016), who was an accomplished artist, writer, philanthropist and longtime patron of the arts.
He died in 1975.voir moins