The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-03-24

He took part In the campaign IN
Spain and 1t was General Hugo, Ia
Their Of Victor Hugo. who decorated
him.
His grandfather, my husband. was
decorated for his military services IN
Algeria, and my son. Georges father
also was an officer. But George him
self has been decorated youngest OF
all Of them. and, woul! you believe 1t.
he did not tell me Of the fact.
The Legion Of Honor
He came here one day and looked
at him closely. for my eyesight has
become very poor. On the left side OF
his uniform in q confused way. ! no
ticed something. George said, you
have stained your uniform
Every calmly he replied, Why no.
grandmother, that is the Legion OF
Honor"
Thus the young man has been de-
scribed by the person who knows him
perhaps best OF all.
The French newspapers for some
time have been very anxious to OBTAIN
permission to mention the name OF the
new brilliant aviator, but this was TOT
hidden, as the censorship does not al
low the names of the aviators to be
mentioned except In the rarest OF
cases. The citation in the offic1al
communication, however, opened the
way for making George Guynemer
known and honored throughout
France
A mention in orders of brigade.
division, an army corps and Of the en-
tire army is cherished by the soldier
as succession of very high disttnc'
tons, but to attain to mention in what
is called an order Of the nation
means that the military authorities
consider the individual mentioned as
heroic and as serviceable to the ma
ton in the very highest degree
Among the hundreds of brilliant
aviators in the Trench service scores
are men of the very highest qualities
as pilots, fighters and observers. But
once in while man energies who has
peculiar qualities that put him in
special class, qualities OF initiative,
extraordinary capacity for sudden and
accurate decisions and genius for
strategic and tactical maneuvers.
Such were Pegoud, who lost his lie
in struggle of reckless bravery;
Garros. who was taken prisoner by
the Germans, and Gilbert, who, having
been forced to come down inside Swiss
territory, has been informed there as
prisoner.
Great Aviators In Captivity.
Garros is kept under such close
watch in Germany that there is no
prospect of his taking any further part
in the war. Gilbert on August 81 last
made his escape from Switzerland and
reached Paris, but he was sent back
by the French authorities, as there
was a question of his having violated
his parole in escaping.
How great the value of one man In
the air service is considered, when
that man is of exceptionally distin.
guished ability, was seen in the case
of Gilbert, as the whole French nation
regretted the fact that he had to be
returned to internment.
- He had written a letter to the com.
mander in chief of the Swiss army
formally notifying the latter that he
was Withdrawing his parole and would
feel free to escape II he could. The
letter was delivered in time to give
the notification before Gilbert started
for France, but was allowed to remain
on the Swiss generals bureau for
considerable time before being opened
and in the interval Gilbert had slipped
the guards.
On being returned he refused to en-
gage his parole and on February he
again escaped from the military bar
racks where he was interned in Zu-
rich. Accompanied by another French
aviator. named Parry, he succeeded in
getting aboard train for Geneva, on
board which Ill French prisoners were
being returned from Germany. The
aviators, however, were recognized at
the station at Often and were obliged
to return to their captivity.
The little monoplane which Guy
nemer mounts is Of type which the
French censorship does not allow to
be described in detail, but 1t Is small
and seems under the perfect control
of the young aviator Following the
name which the French troops have
given to it, '1e vieux Charles" the
British soldiers, who have already be-
come acquainted with it, refer to it as
"Old Charley"
"Der Ate Karl"
It is said that the German aviators
themselves, by the peculiar process Of
ntercommunication of information be.
tween adversary airmen, have learned
the sobriquet of the machine and that
they call it der alte Karl" This Is
the first machine on any side which
has been accorded a popular name by
the soldiers.
It was stated that during the recent
Zeppelin raid on Paris very brilliant
French aviator had gone up hastily
and pursued the Zeppelin and attack
ed it at close quarters for an hour,
during part Of which time he was
within thirty yards Of the airship, and
desisted from his attacks only when
through lack Of both ammunition and
gasoline he was unable any longer to
render service. 1t has been limited
that the aviator in question was Guy
nemer and permission was sought to
announce the name, but the authori.