Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-09-26
KITTEN ROCKWELL
IS KILLED IN AIR
BATTLE IN FRANCE
Atlanta Boy With American
Division of French Aviation
Corps Had Won High Honor
for His Courage
Kitten Rockwell is dead.

Kitten Rockwell is dead.
The Atlanta boy whose exploits as an
aviator with the flying corps of the
French foreign legion won him renown
the world over. was killed IN action Sat
urday morning.
News of mis- death was contained in
the following Associated Press dispatch
received by The Journal last night:
"Winston-Salem, NJ c.. Sept. 23.--Kif-
fen Yates Rockwell. formerly of Ashe-
Vile and Atlanta, who had served in the
French aero corps with distinction dur
ing the long months of fighting around
Verdun. was killed in action this morn
ing. Announcement of his death was
made by the French government in
cablegram received today by his mother,
Mrs. L. A. Rockwell of this city.
THE message announcing the await
or's death came from a friend of the
family in Paris and read as follows:
Kitten killed this morning in aerial
battle in Alsace."
Young Rockwell served at Verdun
during the long months of fighting
there and succeeded in bringing down
four German aeroplanes unassisted. For
this feat he recently received a war
cross and military medal from the
hands of General Joffre, who referred
to him as "a bold and courageous pilot"
He had been mentioned frequently for
bravery in official reports.
Mrs. Rockwell received a letter from
her son only a few hours before the ca
blegram came telling her of his death.
In the letter he stated that he had been
granted a leave of absence of eight
days and had spent it in Paris with his
brother. Paul Rockwell, who had been
severely wounded earlier in the war and
discharged from the French army. On
the day that the letter was mailed in
Paris, Rockwell left for the front. He
wrote that he had been transferred from
Verdun to a more active sector.
when the war began Kitten Rockwell
was connected with an advertising
agency in Atlanta. With his brother,
Paul, who was a reporter on several At
lanta papers, he went to France. They
enlisted in the foreign legion and began
service on September &c. 1914. Paul
later was wounded, but Kitten remained
with the legion until it was wiped out
after seven months of fighting in the
trenches. He then asked for a trans
fer to the aero corps and began train
ing. In the meantime his brother had
decided to remain in Paris and he began
as a special correspondent there for
several American newspapers, which he
now is serving.
Kitten Rockwell was born on Sep
TENDER 20, 1892, at Newport, Tenn. His
father was a Baptist minister of North
Carolina. His mother was Miss Lula
Ayers, a member of a prominent South
Carolina family. Rockwelrs father
died when the boy was two years old,
and later Mrs. Rockwell moved with
her two sons to Asheville, n. c., where
they lived for many years. Kitten was
a graduate of Washington and Lee uni
versity and also attended the Virginia
Military institute for time"
1t was only last Sunday that The
Journal printed a letter from Kitten
Rockwell to his friend and former en-
ployer. st. Elmo Massenga1e. head of the
Advertising Agency, of At
lanta. In this letter young Rockwell
laid his success as an aviator to luck"
the very luck which deserted him in the
end.
CALLED HIMSELF LUCKY.
Writing under date Of August % from
Paris, where he was on furlough, he
said:
81 have worked very hard in the avia-
ton corps this summer and have had a
great number of air fights IN which /
have so far been very lucky. I am spend
ing this week in Paris on permission,
and am enjoying it very much. as Paris
is the liveliest now since the beginning
of the war"
That letter is the last word that was
received in Atlanta from Kitten Rock
we'll. He must have returned to the
front soon afterward and the fate which
was waiting for him in the sinister
skies.
Kitten Rockwelrs death brings the
deepest sorrow to his friends in At
Ianta He and his brother, Paul Rock
we'll, came TO this city from Asheville
about three years ago. Paul was a re-
porter on a local newspaper, Kitten
worked for some time for the. Massen-
gale agency. They were both brilliant
boys and made many friends.
Being of French extraction, Paul and
Kitten decided to enlist with the French
arms soon after war broke out. Paul
went with the infantry and saw hard
service i'm the trenches along the French
front before he was wounded and sent to
a Paris hospital
Kitten broke into the war game bril-
liantly. In the aviation corps with him
were many other Americans, including
Thaw, of Pittsburg. a relative of Harry
K. Thaw; but none of these eclipsed the
southern boy i'm daring and reckless ex-
ploits. His name has been mentioned
time and again in Associated Press
from Paris as bringing down
many German aviators. He was promot-
ed TO a corporal and received the war
decoration from the French government.
Atlanta--and in fact, the entire nation
watched his career with interest, and its
tragic termination will be learned with
the most heartfelt grief
Kitten Rockwell is the second Atlanta
boy to meet death under a foreign flag
i'm the war. Meredith Gray, of Atlanta,
was recently killed in action He was
with the British army il E'==ans