Edwin Parsons joined the U.S. Army Ambulance Corps before joining the French Foreign Legion in 1915, and subsequently became a pilot in the French Service Aeronautique. During World War I he became an ACE, credited with destroying 8 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. After the war he authored “The Great American Adventure” and served as an advisor for the production of the movie “Wings” A Navy Reservist, in World War II he was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander, and retired after the war ended as a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral.