Eagle Squadrons

[Mudge]

Reading about the Eagle Squadrons that were formed in Sept. '40. I knew that Americans who went to Britain to join had to give up their US citizenship.

Question 1: Were they automatically made British citizens? If not, what citizenship did they hold?

Question 2: When they were taken back into the USAAF in '42, did they automatically regain their US citizenship?

Question 3: If they were married to a US citizen, would they have had dual citizenship? It's my understanding that none were married, so it's just a "what if".

Question 4: Were the "expatriots" who were killed flying for the "Eagles" buried in US or British cemeteries?

Question 5: Was the "loss of citizenship" just a paperwork thing to get around some treaty and not really as harsh as it sounds or could it have had some not too pleasant legal ramifications under certain circumstances?

Take your time.

Mudge the reasearcher

[Asterperious]

Hi Mudge,

this recent book covers a lot of thsoe questions:

http://www.immigrantsofwar.com/

you can also e-mailWalt directly - he love sto talk about this subject and is supremely knowledable about all aspects of the Yanks in the RAF subject.

wpf13@hotmail.com

[Dave Smith]

Some interesting questions there, Mudge but I can only give a partial answer to #4. There is a war graves plot in the small cemetery at Hawarden, about 7 miles from here. There was a fighter OTU nearby at the airfield of the same name (it's pronounced "Harden") and the accident rate on Spitfires was tragically high. There are pilots of about ten different nationalities buried here, including several Americans killed before the US entered the war and at least one after that. The plot is administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and beautifully kept, with roses and other flowers blooming around the headstones in summer.

One of the pilots in the Hawarden Cemetery was killed when his Spitfire crashed in a field about 500 yards from my house. He was Pilot Officer Roger Dennis Crozier of Portland, Maine and nominally in the RCAF. The 1933 Census gives his parents as Canadian and him as American. (I understand that being born in the USA automatically makes you a citizen).

If you have any names you want to check, put them in the Debt of Honor search box on the CWGC website and you will find out if they are buried in British cemeteries. Some, I believe, were transferred to the American Cemetery at Cambridge.

[flyboyj]

I don't think they ever gave up their citizenship. I'm not 100% sure but I think they skirted the issue during their "swearing in" where they did not swear allegiance to the crown. Also to be stripped of your citizenship I believe you have to either take allegiance to a foreign nation or publicly denounce your citizenship and in both cases there would have to be someone around to witness this and turn you in, probably to immigration. A US citizen can hold dual citizenship. I know a few folks who hold dual US/ Canadian citizenship. My father was a dual citizen for a while as well.

[L2Driver]

There were two triggers that could result in loss of citizenship. The oath taken upon joining RAF involved swearing allegiance to the King was one. The other was the Neutrality Act which forbade serving in the militaries of the combatant nations. The wording of the oath was later changed to say the person would obey the lawful orders of over them. The Neutrality Act also disappeared rather quickly as Lend-Lease ramped up.

Those who lost their citizenship had a tough time getting it back so it was very much a real issue. Several books on the Eagles deal with the subject in some detail

[flyboyj]

Found this...

"The neutrality of the United States posed a diplomatic problem. The US could not be seen as sending combatants to assist one side in the war, and any US citizen who took an oath of loyalty to another nation ran the risk of losing his citizenship. A diplomatic subterfuge took care of the problem: volunteers joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) or RAF using a specially-composed oath to obey the orders of their superiors (not mentioning national loyalties at all). Many also adopted false names to further confuse the issue. Some were even issued Canadian or other British Commonwealth identity documents."

http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com ... s-and.html

[Don Martin]

One of the pilots in the Hawarden Cemetery was killed when his Spitfire crashed in a field about 500 yards from my house. He was Pilot Officer Roger Dennis Crozier of Portland, Maine and nominally in the RCAF. The 1933 Census gives his parents as Canadian and him as American. (I understand that being born in the USA automatically makes you a citizen).

Hi Dave,
I'm here in Maine and a friend of mine who is not on the WIX would be interested(as would I) in seeing a picture of the marker if you happened to have one or know where one could be found?
Thanks
Don

[Mudge]

Thank you kindly. The amount of knowledge contained in your collective minds never ceases to amaze me.

I think all my questions have been answered.

Mudge the educable

[Dave Smith]

Some very interesting answers, thanks for posting.

And Don, I've sent you a PM.

[Obergrafeter]

What about Americans that went to fly in the Spanish Civil War? Also did any Americans go to fly on the Axis side? You would think of all the thousands there would have been at least one who flew for Italy or Germany at some point before Americas entry into the war.

[flyboyj]

What about Americans that went to fly in the Spanish Civil War? Also did any Americans go to fly on the Axis side? You would think of all the thousands there would have been at least one who flew for Italy or Germany at some point before Americas entry into the war.

I never heard of any American going to the Axis. Frank Tinker the was most famous US ace and really got screwed when returned to the US. Eventually he committed suicide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Glasgow_Tinker

[Obergrafeter]

Doesn't say anything about changing citizenship to fly for the Spanish. Interesting. Did the Germans in the Condour Legion change? Why did the Americans that went to England have to pretend to follow the rules and no one else?

[L2Driver]

Doesn't say anything about changing citizenship to fly for the Spanish. Interesting. Did the Germans in the Condour Legion change? Why did the Americans that went to England have to pretend to follow the rules and no one else?

Simple answer is that US laws in effect at a particular time would be the law of the land. Please see below that the Neutrality Law evolved during the run up to WW2. Via Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_1930s):

Neutrality Act of 1935
Roosevelt's State Department had lobbied for embargo provisions that would allow the President to impose sanctions selectively. This was rejected by Congress. The 1935 act, signed on August 31, 1935, imposed a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war. It also declared that American citizens traveling on warring ships traveled at their own risk. The act was set to expire after six months.

Roosevelt invoked the act after Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935, preventing all arms and ammunition shipments to both countries. He also declared a "moral embargo" against the belligerents, covering trade not falling under the Neutrality Act.[3]

Neutrality Act of 1936
The Neutrality Act of 1936, passed in February of that year, renewed the provisions of the 1935 act for another 14 months. It also forbade all loans or credits to belligerents.

However, this act did not cover "civil wars," such as that in Spain (1936-1939), nor did it cover materials such as trucks and oil. U.S. companies such as Texaco, Standard Oil, Ford, General Motors, and Studebaker used this loophole to sell such items to Franco on credit. By 1939, Franco owed these and other companies more than $100,000,000.[4]

Neutrality Acts of 1937
In January 1937, the Congress passed a joint resolution outlawing the arms trade with Spain. The Neutrality Act of 1937, passed in May, included the provisions of the earlier acts, this time without expiration date, and extended them to cover civil wars as well. Further, U.S. ships were prohibited from transporting any passengers or articles to belligerents, and U.S. citizens were forbidden from traveling on ships of belligerent nations.

In a concession to Roosevelt, a "cash and carry" provision that had been devised by his advisor Bernard Baruch was added: the President could permit the sale of materials and supplies to belligerents in Europe as long as the recipients arranged for the transport and paid immediately in cash, with the argument that this would not draw the U.S. into the conflict. Roosevelt believed that cash and carry would aid France and Great Britain in the event of a war with Germany, since they were the only countries that controlled the seas and were able to take advantage of the provision.[2] The cash and carry clause was set to expire after two years.

Japan invaded China in July 1937, starting the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). President Roosevelt, who supported the Chinese side, chose not to invoke the Neutrality Acts since the parties had not formally declared war. In so doing, he ensured that China's efforts to defend itself would not be hindered by the legislation: China was dependent on arms imports and only Japan would have been able to take advantage of cash and carry. This outraged the isolationists in Congress who claimed that the spirit of the law was being undermined. Roosevelt stated that he would prohibit American ships from transporting arms to the belligerents, but he allowed British ships to transport American arms to China.[5] Roosevelt gave his Quarantine Speech in October 1937, outlining a move away from neutrality and towards "quarantining" all aggressors. He then imposed a "moral embargo" on exports of aircraft to Japan. [3]

Neutrality Act of 1939
Early in 1939, after Nazi Germany had invaded Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt lobbied Congress to have the cash and carry provision renewed. He was rebuffed, the provision lapsed, and the mandatory arms embargo remained in place.

In September, after Germany had invaded Poland and Great Britain and France had subsequently declared war on Germany, Roosevelt invoked the provisions of the Neutrality Act but came before Congress and lamented that the Neutrality Acts may give passive aid to an aggressor.[6]

He prevailed over the isolationists and on November 4 the Neutrality Act of 1939 (ch. 2, 54 Stat. 4) was passed, allowing for arms trade with belligerent nations on a cash and carry basis, thus in effect ending the arms embargo. Furthermore, the Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937 were repealed, American citizens and ships were barred from entering war zones designated by the President, and the National Munitions Control Board (which had been created by the 1935 Neutrality Act) was charged with issuing licenses for all arms imports and exports. Arms trade without a license carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

End of neutrality policy
The end of neutrality policy came with the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941, which allowed the U.S. to sell, lend or give war materials to allied nations.

After repeated attacks by German submarines on U.S. ships, Roosevelt announced on 11 September 1941 that he had ordered the U.S. Navy to attack German and Italian war vessels in the "waters which we deem necessary for our defense". Following the sinking of the U.S. destroyer Reuben James on October 31, much of the provisions of the Neutrality Acts were repealed on November 17, 1941: merchant vessels were allowed to be armed and to carry any cargoes to belligerent nations. The U.S. formally declared war on Japan on 8 December 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor of the previous day; Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. on 11 December 1941, and the U.S. responded with a declaration of war on the same day.