Richard Norton (1872-1918)
Archaeologist & Founder of the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps
He was born in Dresden, Germany, to an aristocratic American family. Returning to America, he graduated from Harvard in archeology, and after a period as an instructor in Athens etc. he became a director of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. On the outbreak of WWI, he founded the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps. He was a close friend of Henry James and Edith Wharton, both of whom helped raise funds for the corps. By the time the Americans joined the war in 1917, the corps had 600-volunteer drivers and 300-ambulances working alongside the British Red Cross under the command of the British Army. Before it came under the command of the American Army in 1917, the British gave command of the corps to the French Army, the French having so few ambulances. The corps' drivers became known for their immense bravery, rescuing men from under the noses of the enemy, often under intense fire, and they were collectively awarded the French Croix de Guerre. Norton died of meningitis, but became France's most highly-decorated non-Frenchman in WWI.
