James Alexander Connelly Jr.


Adjutant James Alexander Connelly Jr. was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories.

Biography

Connelly was born in Marion, Pennsylvania and joined the 1st Regiment of the French Foreign Legion in 1917. He transferred to the Aviation Service within the aegis of the Lafayette Flying Corps and gained his Military Flying Brevet, No. 9711 on 3 November. Assigned to Spa157 on 15 January 1918, he gained two victories before going to Spa163 on 27 June. With this unit he scored five more victories between 27 June and the end of the war.
With the French Air Service he received the Médaille militaire and Croix de Guerre, and from the Air Service, United States Army, the Distinguished Service Cross.
Post-war he was a businessman in Philadelphia. In 1925, he married Elizabeth Atterbury, daughter of railway magnate General William Wallace Atterbury. He died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on 1 February 1944.

Honors and awards