The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-21
l VIM. THAW, HERO i OF. SKY BATTLES,
 RETURNS ID ]. s.

William Thaw, citizen of France for the period of the war, arrived yester- day from Bordeaux by the French steamship La Touraine, aWed more by the batteries of cameras and the crosS- examination of reporters than he ever has been by German aeroplanes, Which he has fought in dizzy heights above the clouds of nature and war at the Verdun front He is a lieutenant in the French aviation service, and wears, under his coat so none shall see it except on request, the cross Of the Legion of Honor, awarded to him for gallantry in battle with three big German aeroplanes above Verdun.
 Tn his unequal conflict at Verdun
 Lieut. Thaw was wounded in the el- bow. He is here to recuperate and see the Yale-Harvard football game. He sailed from Bordeaux in the hope of attending the bout between Princeton and Yale, but the Touraine encoun- tered bad weather, ran short Of coal, and was forced down to the Azores to replenish her bunkers. There Lieut. Thaw had to be content with the score of the game the Touraine received iby wireless. But he is glad he got here in time for the ale-Harvard game. He is on leave of absence for three weeks and will return to France and re-enter the aerial fleet.
 A Fighting Aviator.
 Lieut. .Thaw said there were three classes of aviators in the French flying corps, one found ranges for the art1l- lery, another dropped bombs on enemy munition plants and stores and the other fought enemy airmen. He was in the last class and he preferred it because of the larger possibilities of adventure. Tn his last encounter with German hiers, whose skill he admires, Lieut.. Thaw was shot in the left elbow after his engine had gone wrong and three big German planes were pursu- ing him. He volplaned back to the French lines, dropping just within the safety zone, and unay e until several French soldiers came toward him that ke had not landed in enemy territory.
 In regard to the report that he had shot down two German planes just before he was wounded at Verdun Lieut.. Thaw declined to talk except in general way, remarking that it was true. What seemed to distress the lieutenant most was that he was a "man without a country" having T length of the war. Americans. he said, regard me as a Frenchman and the French look upon me as an Am erican.''
 Lieut.. Thaw shed a little new light in regard to the death of his friend Norman Prince. He said Princes en- zine went back on him and that in his effort to reach safety he colIided nh 1ryi,.n to earth. His death was due to a clot on the brain resulting from his fn- jury. which in itself was not serious enough to cause death.
 Actor Can Fight No More
 Lieut.. Thaw was met at the pier by his parents and left for home with them. He will sail for France after the Yale-Harvard game He is &C., companied by c. G. Johnson, also of the French aerial service, who will 1 return with him.
 Jean Gauthier, French actor. who IS less than 30 and entered the war at it's astart, arrived by the Touraine i With decoration showing that he had been honorably discharged after gallant service. He had silver tuhes put Tn his interior to save his life af- 1 ter he had been badly wounded in the trenches and had spent six months in a nosp1tai. He can never fight again. l put he can act, and will do so here cnleiiy TOT the welfare of France, ap- bearing in the French theatre.
 The trip of the Touraine from Bor- deaux was fifteen days long. Tn neaVy weather in the Bay of Biscay the day after she sailed from Ror- deaux she fell in with a British 1 rreighter with war cargo that had iost her propeller. Capt. Caussin made an effort to assist the Rriton but the heavy seas were too nuct | TOT nm, and' as he had passengers ana malls, he signalled goodbye and l good luck to her and proceeded cho seemed to be making good weather If 1 IL. Capt Caussin said that the renor+ that he had to abandon helpinp +he irelghter because of wireless warno lnss LOT German submarine in his r1n fv-,r4