Robert Grimshaw Eoff Was in Lafayette Escadrille : World War I Flier, 93, Dies in Laguna

Robert Grimshaw Eoff, one of the last surviving members of the famed Lafayette Escadrille flying corps, died of pneumonia Friday at his Laguna Beach home. He was 93.

Eoff’s death leaves just two remaining survivors of the Lafayette Escadrille, a corps of U.S. pilots who joined the French army before the United States entered World War I in 1917.

A native of Christiansburg, Va., Eoff served with the American Ambulance Service Corps before joining the Lafayette Flying Corps. When the United States entered the war, Eoff enlisted in the American 95th Aero Squadron, the country’s most decorated flying corps.

After the war, Eoff worked for RCA for 31 years before opening his own TV and radio repair businesses in Honolulu and Santa Barbara in 1952. He retired in 1962 and moved from Altadena to Laguna Beach with his wife, Dorrace.

In 1983, Eoff and four other members of the Lafayette Escadrille held their last reunion at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colo.

“They used to have reunions every 10 years but because of their ages and their difficulty with traveling, they decided that (1983’s reunion) would be their last,” said Fred Thon, Eoff’s grand-nephew.

The last two survivors of the Lafayette Escadrille are Henry Forster, 100, of New York City and Reginald Sinclaire, 96, of Colorado Springs.

A brief graveside service will be held Friday in Santa Barbara, Thon said.

Eoff is survived by his sister, Harriett Eoff Castle of Rochester, N.Y.; Thon, and a grand-niece.