Eugene Bullard was born October 9, 1894 in Columbus Georgia.  His mother was a Native American and his father was African American.  In the deep South, Bullard found it hard to escape racial discrimination and soon snuck aboard a ship headed to Scotland.  He made a home in the United Kingdom and mainly supported himself as a boxer.  Bullard visited several countries throughout Europe while working as a boxer.  After the eruption of World War I in Europe, Eugene joined the French Foreign Legion while on a trip to Paris, France.  Bullard served for the next two years and was injured in the Battles of Verdun.  After his injury he transfered to the Lafayette Flying Corps in 1916.  When the United States joined the war in August of 1917 Americans from the Lafayette Flying Corps were medically tested by the US Army Air Service in order to recruit Americans who were already serving in the war as volunteers under other nations.  Although Eugene Bullard passed the medical exam he was not accepted to serve as a member of the United States Military due to his race.  In August 17, 1917 Eugene was assigned to the 93rd Spad Squadron where he served as a pilot for approximately twenty missions under the French.  Bullard was again transferred in 1918; this time to the French Infantry where he would serve throughout the remainder of the war.  Through his efforts in the war, Eugene was given the nickname as the "Black Swallow of Death" which was later the title of a book written about his life as a pilot. 

Eugene Bullard lived in France after the war.  He was a succesful businessman whose triumphs during World War I were known to the public.  Eventualy he owned a nightclub and agreed to spy on the Germans for France in 1939, shortly after World War II began.  When the Germans invaded, Bullard fled with his daughters to the South of Paris.  In Orleans, he joined a group of soldiers in a battle and suffered a serious spinal injury which would hinder his working ability for the remainder of his life.  He soon left France altogether and moved to the United States in 1940.  His life in America was not nearly as successful as it had been in Paris.  After years of switching around from job to job he attempted to start his nightclub in Paris again; however, the property had been destroyed by the Germans during World War II.  He purchased an apartment in Harlem, New York where he lived the remainder of his life.  He died of stomach cancer on October 12, 1961. He now rests in the French War Veterans' section of Flushing Cemetary located in Queens, New York.

Eugene Bullard was bestowed with multiple metals and achievements from both France and the United States.  In France he was asked to relight the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier underneath the world-famous, Arc de Triomphe in 1954.  Five years later he became a knight of the Legion d'honneur in France.  He also received 15 war medals from France for his efforts during World War I.  In the United States he was posthumously commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, 33 years after his death, in the US Air Force.