Killed in a dogfight with two German plans above the Somme battlefields in 1917, he died shortly before the United States entered the war.
The 12-foot tall statue, sculpted by Gutzon Borglum who had a hand in Mount Rushmore, commemorates his spirited life and courageous death. At U.Va. he had been known for his bagpipe playing and a spirit of bonhomie. He was called a "man of originality" and a "dreamer".
McConnell's life is currently being told at the University's Clemons Library in a display that includes his cap, a strip of cloth from his plan, and bullet fragments from the German guns that downed him.
But most will remember him by this surreal bronze statue on a marble pedestal that depicts a muscular, nude man in aviator headgear--sporting powerful wings that suggest the Greek mythological figure of Icarus. Over the years it has been garbed in an athletic supporter, hung with toilet paper, and festooned with balloons.
Perhaps McConnell wouldn't mind. In a final letter, written before death but never sent, he said:
"My burial is of no import. Make it as easy as possible on yourselves. I have no religion and do not care for any service. If the omission would embarrass you, I presume I could stand the performance. Good luck to the rest of you. God damn Germany and Vive la France."In 1917, U.Va. President Edwin A. Alderman wrote in a letter of tribute to McConnell's father:
"If he were my boy, though his broken body lies buried in a foreign land, I should be the proudest father in the world today."
from an article by Carlos Santos appearing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sunday, July 30, 2006
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