A Happy Warrior: Letters of William Muir Russel

A Gold Star Family complies a Family Memorial to honor "An American Aviator in the Great War 1917- 1919". Included with the book is a letter attached to the front free endpaper to William H. Fries of the Detroit University School from Henry Russel, along with his calling card. Both have a Gold Star in the upper left corner denoting a Gold Star family which began with WWI. Tan cloth boards have the title debossed on the spine and front board in brown with aviator wings also debossed on the front cover. The boards have obvious blemishes front and rear but little wear along top and bottom of the back strip or boards. Corners all have slight bumping and wear. Spine is straight and firm, with only a small approx. 1" crack to the lower front endpaper. Text block is solid with gold gilt along the top edge and all pages have been cut leaving a rough edge to the side and bottom of the block. Tissue guard over frontispiece is intact. Text includes black and white pictures on glossy paper of the author from a young age until his death. Age tanning throughout with some light foxing on the glossy pages with images. All interior pages are clean, with no tears, cracks or other previous owner marks. 213 pages Dimensions: H – 8" W – 5-1/2" William Muir Russel (1893 – 1918) was shot down on August 11, 1918, during aerial combat. Accounts describe how Russel performed a tricky double "renverse" maneuver but was hit. His plane without control glided and crashed to earth. Locals pulled him from the wreckage, and he was buried in Courville cemetery (France). After the war in 1920 his father Henry left Detroit to get his remains, but he died of pneumonia crossing the Atlantic. In his will he left the people of Courville $10,000 (equivalent to approximately $150,000 today). 1st Lieutenant Russel of the 95th Aero Squadron, US Army Air Service was awarded the Purple Heart and WWI Victory Medal and is now buried at Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.