Publisher's Synopsis
This candid autobiography reveals the heroism and ignominy of Charles Veil -- World War I fighter pilot, faithless husband, anti-Communist rebel, and drug addict. To escape a shotgun wedding, he hopped a freighter bound for South America before he turned 20. He found his way to Paris, was talked out of joining the Foreign Legion, and signed up instead for the Lafayette Escadrille, the American flying corps in the French Army. After the war, he married a woman whose family put him into contact with French high society and nobility. This memoir details his work for the military police in the French underworld and his efforts against the Bolsheviks in Poland before carrying the fight into Russia to bring relief supplies to starving peasants. His open criticism of the Communists forced his removal, and before long he was smuggling furs, jewels, and rugs out of Riga in order to finance his plans to obtain a commission in the Turkish air force and fight in the Greco-Turkish war. This autobiography paints a fascinating portrait of the experiences and characters of a bygone era and bares the conscience of Charles Veil.
