This is the remarkable story, told through his own candid letters, of the young American pilot Arthur Clifford Kimber, who left Stanford University behind him in spring 1917 to carry the first American flag onto the Western Front upon his country's entry into the Great War. Fired by idealism, the young student initially acted as a volunteer ambulance driver in order to get to the front quickly.

In a gripping first-hand account of what he witnessed and who he met on his way to war and on the front, including poignant descriptions of wartime Britain and memorable encounters with former president Theodore Roosevelt and Hollywood actress Lillian Gish, it details Kimber's frustration as he seeks an active role - enrolling within months in the fledgling US Air Force - and follows his hopes and dreams for what lies afters the war. But, after throwing himself into service and taking part in dogfights against 'the Boche', he died just a few weeks before the end of the war, on the opening day of the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Kimber was one of the first Americans onto the front line and, tragically, was one of the last Americans to be buried. Here, his revelatory letters are published for the first time. [Publisher's description]