Book excerpt: "I want to live now more than I ever did in my life but not from the selfish standpoint. This war has taught me many things and now I want to live to do whatever good is possible. But if I am killed anytime in the war I will not be afraid to die, and you may know that I will die like a man should, feeling that it is the greatest death that a man can die." - Kiffin RockwellFor more than two and a half years the example of Kiffin Rockwell and other idealistic American boys fighting on behalf of France shone like a beacon across the Atlantic Ocean, summoning America to take part in the ongoing struggle for civilization. Kiffin and a handful of other like-minded young men were intent on paying their portion of America's debt to Lafayette who, acting on similar impulses and ideals, had crossed the ocean more than a century before to assist America in its fight for independence.First in the trenches as volunteers with the French Foreign Legion, and then in the skies among the world's first fighter pilots, the unbelievable courage and voluntary sacrifice of these boys drew the attention of the world and galvanized American public opinion on the side of France. Played out against the almost unfathomable carnage of the war, the sinking of the Lusitania and the presidential election of 1916, this book sheds new light on the unforgettable true account of Kiffin and the other "boys who remembered Lafayette." Eventually, more than a million U.S. soldiers would cross the Atlantic to help save France. All of them followed in the footsteps of Kiffin Rockwell.Mark M. Trapp is a lawyer in Chicago. This is his first book.www.undyinggreatness.com