Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer. In the American Revolution, Lafayette served as a major-general in the Continental Army under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he still managed to organize a successful retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war he returned to France to negotiate an increase in French support. On his return, he blocked troops led by Cornwallis at Yorktown while the armies of Washington and those sent by King Louis XVI under the command of General de Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse, and Admiral de Latouche Tréville prepared for battle against the British.
President James Monroe invited Lafayette to the United States as the "nation's guest"; during the trip, he visited all twenty-four states. For his contributions to the American Revolution, many cities and monuments throughout the United States bear his name. During France's July Revolution of 1830, Lafayette declined an offer to become the French dictator; instead he supported Louis-Philippe's bid as a constitutional monarch.
Lafayette died on 20 May 1834, and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, under soil from Washington's grave at Mount Vernon. He became a United States citizen during his lifetime, and received honorary United States citizenship in 2002.
On 4 July 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I, Colonel Charles E. Stanton visited the grave of Lafayette and uttered the famous phrase "Lafayette, we are here." After the war, a U.S. flag was permanently placed at the grave site. Every year, on Independence Day, the flag is replaced in a joint French-American ceremony. The flag remained even during the German occupation of Paris during World War II.
BYOP (Bring Your Own Pencil) and please don't force it.