Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, writer and French Resistance figure who also pioneered air mail. When the Second World War broke out, he joined the most dangerous reconnaissance unit, 2/33. Flying behind enemy lines, this unit lost 17 of its 23 planes.
Saint-Exupéry’s best known work is the enchanting story, The Little Prince. Published during the War, the poetic beauty of its prose made the work an immediate classic. In 1941, Saint-Exupéry traveled to New York City to persuade the United States to come to France’s aid. When his "American friends" finally took up arms to fight for France’s liberty, Saint-Exupéry fought at their side, just as his ancestor, Georges Alexandre Césarée de Saint-Exupéry, had when he joined his compatriot, the Marquis de La Fayette, in America’s fight for independence.

On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupéry flew a reconnaissance sortie, beginning on the French island of Corsica. He would never return.