WWI · Battle Death Record
Raynal Bolling
Colonel, U.S. Army Air Service · New York
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Raynal Bolling
- Entered the Service From
- New York
- Rank
- Colonel
- Service
- U.S. Army Air Service
- Unit / Regiment
- Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces
- War
- WWI
- Date of Death
- March 26, 1918
- Awards
- Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Honour (France), Croix de Guerre (France)
- Burial / Memorial
- Commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing, Somme American Cemetery and Memorial
- Grave
- Tablets of the Missing
Their story
Raynal Cawthorne Bolling, a corporate lawyer and pioneering Army aviator, was the highest-ranking U.S. air officer killed in World War I. On March 26, 1918, during the German spring offensive near Estrées-Deniécourt, France, he and his driver came under German machine-gun fire; Bolling drew his revolver to defend his driver and was shot and killed. His remains were never recovered, and he is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at Somme American Cemetery.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.