New Britain herald., 1916-11-21
AVIATOR THAW IS
BACK FROM FRANCE
Doesn't Know Whether He's An
American or FrenChman

New York, Nov. 21.-William Thaw.
citizen of France for the period Of the
by the French steamship La Touraine,
! awed more by the batteries of cam
| eras and the cross-examination of re-
| porters than he ever has been by Ger
+ man aeroplanes, which he has fought
in dizzy heights above the clouds of
nature and war at tho Verdun front.
He is a lieutenant in the French avia-
ton 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.
In his unequal conflict at Verdun
Lieutenant Thaw was wounded in the
elbow He is here to recuperate and
see the Yale-Harvard football game
He sailed from Bordeaux in the hope
of attending the bout between Prince
ton and Yale, but the Touraine en-
countered had weather, ran short of
coal, and was forced down to the
Azores to replenish her bunkers.
There Lieutenant Thaw had to be con-
tent with the score of the game the
Touraine received by wireless. But he
is glad he got here in time for the
Yale-Harvard game. He is on leave
of absence for three weeks and will
return to France and re-enter the
aerial fleet.
Thaw in Fighting Glass.
Lieutenant Thaw said there were
three classes of aviators in the French
flying corps, one found ranges for the
artillery, 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. In his last encounter with
German fliers, whose skill he admires,
Lieutenant Thaw was shot in the left
elbow after his engine had gone
wrong and three big German planes
were pursuing him. He volplaned back
to the French lines, dropping just
within the safety zone, and unaware
until several French officers came to-
ward him that he 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 Ve1rlun
cept in a general way, remarking that
it was true. What seemed to distress
the lieutenant most was that he was
a imam without a country" having
sworn allegiance to France for the
length of the war. ""Americans" he
said. regard me as a"Frenchnan and
the French look upon me as an
American .. r.fs.
Lieutenant Thaw shed little new
light in regard to the death of his
friend Norman Prince. He said
Princes engine went back on him and
that in his effort to reach safety he
collided with telegraph wires and was
hurled to earth. His death was due
to a. clot on the brain resulting from
his injury, which in itself was not
serious enough to cause death.
Lieutenant Thaw was met at the
pier by his parents and left for home
with them. He will sail for France
after the Harvard game. He is
accompanied by c. G.. Johnson, also of
turn with him.
Actor Put Out of Running.
Jean Gauthier, French actor, who
is less than 80, and entered the war
at it's start, arrived by the Touraine
with a decoration showing that he
had been honorably discharged after
gallant service. He had silver tubes
put in his interior to save his life aft
er he had been badly wounded in the
trenches and had spent six months in
a hospital. He can never fight again,
but he can act and will do so here
chiefly for the welfare of France, ap-
pearing in the French theater.
no tl-ip of Io iy,o Do,
deaux was fifteen days long. In heavy
weather the Bay of Biscay the day
after she sailed from Bordeaux she
fell in with a British freighter with
war cargo that had lost her propeller.
Captain Caussin made an effort to as
sist the Briton, but the heavy seas
were too much for him, and as he
had passengers and mails, he signalled
goodbye and good luck to her and
proceeded. She seemed to be making
good weather of it. Captain Caussin
said that the report that he had to
abandon helping the freighter because
of wireless warnings of a German
submarine in his course was not true.