Chess Elliot William

Monuments

Polish 7th Air Escadrille

7th “Kosciuszko” Squadron Plaque

Name:

Elliot William Chess

Rank:

First Lieutenant

Serial Number:

Unit:

Kosciuszko Squadron

Date of Death:

1962-12-27

State:

Texas

Cemetery:

Plot:

Row:

Grave:

Decoration:

Poland's Virtuti Militari

Comments:

Born in El Paso, Texas on 25 October 1898. He left El Paso High School and emigrated to Toronto, Canada to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps when WWI started. Youngest American pilot to join the Kosciusko Squadron in Poland for the Polish-Soviet War from 1919-1920. Chess suggested the insignia that now represents the Kosciusko Squadron. It was first sketched on a menu of the Hotel George in Lwów. During the 1920's Chess returned to El Paso and worked as an advertising manager with the El Paso Times. He wrote several short stories and novelettes which were published between 1929 and 1932. In 1941 his first and only novel, Walk Away From 'Em, was published by Coward-McCann. During WWII Chess servd in "A" Troop Carrier Group of the Ninth Air Force. Chess died in El Paso, Texas at the age of 63