DuBouchet, Vivian

Born abroad in 1899. Son of Dr. Charles DuBouchet. Home, Paris. Educated Paris schools. joined American Ambulance, Neuilly, September 3, 1914, as driver; attached Paris Squad and served at front in First Battle of the Marne. Joined American Field Service, September 16, 1915; attached Section Two until February 10, 1916. Rejoined Field Service, December 13, 1916; attached Vosges Detachment to June 5, 1917. Enlisted, U. S. Aviation as interpreter. Transferred to U. S. Infantry, 16th Regiment, winter of 1917-1918. Died May 16, 1918, in Paris of wounds received in action near Crèvecoeur, Oise. Buried Paris, France. Awarded D. S. C. and D. S. M.

CHARLES VIVIAN Du BOUCHET was the youngest of those American boys educated in France who hastened to join the American Ambulance during the early months of the War. His enrolment for active duty in September, 1914, at the age of fifteen years, is typical of the uncompromising devotion and quiet heroism that characterized the man beneath the boyish carefree exterior.

Of his service at the Front during the epic days of the First Marne, he said little, though we frequently tried to draw him out. We envied him the experience in the War of movement during the long stalemate at Pont-à-Mousson, where the time, destination, and source of every shell was a known quantity and every imperceptible wavering of the front lines meant a thrilling victory or a gloomy defeat.

Every section had its cast of typical characters, which remained curiously constant despite changes in personnel. There always was a man who did most of the hard, dirty work; there was the fellow who never did any work at all except under protest; then the chronic grumbler, prophet of disaster and hopeless tragedy, with whom we expostulated, and whom we fled to find a more normal and cheerful view of life in the agreeable company of gay DuBouchet or Leif Barclay.

Both of these, at different times, played the role of section "morale officer" in old S. S. U. Two. All of us received the warmest welcome from them. They always had time to help a comrade change billets or tinker with a balky engine. It was not strange that the French should have been quick to feel their sympathetic personalities and to make them the Section favorites. Vivian's perfect command of French diction, not to mention argot, permitted him to arrive at a degree of intimacy with the more intelligent French men and officers, which was denied Barclay and the rest of us. This intimacy was soon reflected in an additional confidence in the Section and further privileges for all. As liaison workers, these two members did much to promote the mutual liking which made those days in the Bois-le-Prêtre sector the most charming memory of the war for those of us who have survived. Nowhere was service more appreciated or personal contacts within and without the section kindlier. During the fall of 1916 and the spring of 1917 practically the entire section enlisted in the Foreign Legion for aviation service. Poor Du Bouchet tried with the rest of us but lacked the one absolutely essential faculty for aviation, perfect eyesight. This great disappointment did not induce him to "quit" as did so many others who had to be pilots or nothing. He was peculiarly fitted for liaison and interpretation work and was drafted for that service.

No non-combatant service, however, could satisfy him for long. In the winter of 1917-18, he succeeded in transferring to the U. S. Infantry. Let it be said that no one had a clearer idea of the hardships of that service than a former ambulance driver at the Front.

He was severely wounded the fourth of May, 1918, at Crèvecoeur and was taken to the American Ambulance in Paris, where he died May 16th. He was awarded the D. S. M. and the D. S. C. Those of Section Two, who gave their lives in the air, would be first to accord the palm of most supreme heroism to Vivian, who quietly refusing to take shelter from his conscience behind youth and bad eyesight sought a certain and unspectacular death.

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921