Seeking "volunteers," Sweeny sent a telegram to a number of WWI veterans in the US in June of 1925. By July, he had 17 volunteers,12 of whom were pilots, including Paul Ayres Rockwell, were had served France in World War I.[4][5] The American volunteers were inducted into the French Foreign Legion in July, and their squadron was named Escadrille Cherifienne, 19th Squadron of the Moroccan Aviation Regiment.[6]