1914: An assassination in a town no one can spell, Sarajevo, in a country no one ever heard of, Bosnia, has, for some reason plunged Europe into war. Afraid they'll miss out on history's last great conflict Ward Cartwright and his adoptive brother, Dan Cason, along with several hundred other American boys, rust to join the French Foreign Legion to "Fight For Liberty."

Wounded during the trench fighting, Ward, followed by Dan, transfers to "The Aviation." Dan becomes a member of the famed Lafayette Eacadrille while Ward is assigned to a regular French unit in the front at Verdun, where he rapidly becomes an ace and the most famous American flier in the war.

Both boys end the war old beyond their years having seen many of their friends killed in a conflict that claimed over ten million lives. Ward, as Commanding Officer of an American Squadron celebrates the Armistice by burning his Spad fighter.