Today's DAR
As the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour (August 2024 – September, 2025) came to a close, President General Ginnie Storage and many DAR members joined with the Doughboy Foundation, the French military, the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL), and the public on September 6, 2025, to celebrate Lafayette’s 268th birthday and remember the Lafayette Escadrille. Despite the heat, many gathered at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. as The Maryland Military Band played stirring music. Jari Villanueva, the Executive Director of the Doughboy Foundation, welcomed all to the ceremony, followed by the singing of the National Anthems of France and the United States of America. Remarks were given by Mr. Geoff Chapman, nephew of Lafayette Escadrille’s heroic pilot, Victor Chapman, as well as by representatives from the AFL, the Military Attaché from the French Republic, the American Gold Star Mothers, as well as by the Honorable Colby Jenkins, Assistant Secretary of Defense.
Remembering Lafayette!
The remarks by President General Storage touched upon the link between the heroism of Lafayette, who came to America in 1777 at the age of 19, and the same heroism of the youth who fought with the Lafayette Escadrille nearly 140 years later. She recounted the many roles played by the DAR during WWI. These responsibilities included volunteering at the battle front as ambulance drivers and radio operators, as well as on the home front as farmerettes who grew food and factory workers who made ammunition for the soldiers “over there." She also talked about how DAR organized the WWI Red Cross Nursing Service, and cared for both the orphans of the soldier’s families left behind, and for the orphans and the wounded.
Mrs. Storage also proudly commented on the role DAR played in helping to organize and then volunteer with the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL) to accomplish the feat of recreating the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America just as it happened 200 years ago. If it weren’t for DAR, this educational effort could never have been accomplished over the 24 states and 13 months of the celebration.
Finally, President General Storage spoke of the work of DAR’s Franco-American Memorial Committee, whose goal it is to honor the French in America by restoring and then commemorating gravesites, memorials and monuments that cover the span of time from the earliest French explorers in America in the 1500s to the work of the French here today.
At the conclusion of the commemoration, wreaths were laid in front of the new World War I Memorial to honor both Lafayette and all those who fought during “the war to end all wars.”
DAR is proud to remember and honor both our own American Revolutionary Major General Lafayette, as well as the brave young American men who made the Lafayette Escadrille what it was. All were heroes and all worthy of our respect and esteem. May Lafayette’s love for democracy and the sacrifices of the men of the Lafayette Escadrille to preserve it, never be forgotten.
