The Washington times., 1917-03-03
Clerks, Bookkeepers, and Stu
dents Of Yesterday Now Risk
Lives for Britain.
CHAT ON PERlLoUs DESCENT
Youthful Officers, Forced by
German Shot to Leap, Bit
terly Resent IlI-Luck.
By w1LLIAM PHILIP sIMMs.


THE FIELD. Feb. (by mai1).AYou
remember the county fair7 Remem-
Der the tremor of expectancy in the
crowd gathered around the dingy old
hot-air balloon as she sweued. OH so
slowly, with the smoke and fumes OF
the barrel-stave fre?
Will you ever forget the thrill she
gave you as she lazily lurched into
the air. dragging with her the fellow
in the darned but spangled purple
tights, the paraehute. jump man with
oiled hair plastered down on his fore
head? You secretly half hoped he
would fall and half feared he would.
And then, at about 1900 feet, the
aeronaut's mad leap, his dead drop OF
300 or 500 feet, the slow opening OF
the parachute, and the swinging drift
to the ground-remember?
Suppose you had to leave your Job
in the office, shop or on the farm, and
begin such performances tomorrow?
Suppose you had to go up in bal
loon. in any and all sorts OF weather,
to be shot at by artillery and iunged
TAT by hostile aircraft7' Suppose you
had to leap from burning balloons. or
BCI AOS6co Jul VI lAC 0a1AC~ VI O1C
while passing through the cloudsl
In Days Work View.
What IL America should suddenly
find herself in a war and the bill
boards should say: "Your Country
Needs You?" Think you could do
these things for herr British boys
are doing the little trick every day.
RlaFtrfnR IN
stores, working In shops. bookkeeping
In offices, or going to school Today
they are making parachute leaps from
balloons and other more thrilling
things still.
Yesterday that lieutenant you nnd
yourself talking to was q pfnk-and-
white youth at Eton, preparing to go
up to Cambridge. Today he considers
fighting duels above the clouds with
Germans as much part OF his job AZ
yesterday he considered calculus to
be. Yesterday he was school kid
writing essays about flowers. Now
he handles a machine gun like
demon, as he hurtles through the sky
two miles a minute, or nose dives
after q war-hardened youth Hike him
self whom he is trying to kill :.
Here's an example. The incident oc-
CURED In the observation balloon sec
tIon. Two youngsters. carrying out
over the German de-
lenses, suddenly got a shell through
their balloon. 1t began to fall, slowly
at first, then faster. They were about
q mile high. -
..we,re hit and fa1lingr' one Of the
observers phoned down TO the ground.
THE hostile gun Is at x-22-D621" A
moment later the second observer
phoned down the position OF the hos
tile battery which had punetured
them. but gave the position slightly
different.
They Chat "GeInE Dewn.r
Then both boys Jumped. Their para
chutes opened about the same dis
tance down, and, not more than fifty
feet apart, they were waited earth
ward together.
'sThe blightersr' one youth called
over to the other as they dangled half
a mile above the earth They
do that again in q million
shots"
"Rummy lot of stale cheesesr,
growled the other. waving an arm in
the direction of the Germans. "Pure,
accident! They couldn't hit a bread
wagon II they tried" Thus chatting
they landed in a field about a mile
from their winch, and patiently
back
I'm sorry to note" said the com
pany commander, as they entered the
hut serving as balloon section tele-
phone central, "that you two gentle
men failed to agree on the location OF
the hostile battery which brought you
down" And though there was a
. III in his his Vnfra
severe.
Sorry, sir" one Of the young Of
fcers replied. with a smart salute,
but perhaps our error was due to
the observations being taken at differ
ent attitudes" Throughout the Brit
ish army one finds boyish-looking of
hcers. And they have again and
again proved themselves up like this,
when the pinch has come.
Caught In wIndstorm.
Two other young officers while at
an altitude of about 1000 feet found
themselves caught in a windstorm be-
fore they could be hauled down. Just
before reaching earth a violent. gale
hit the balloon, which pulled the
winch on the ground completely over,
swapping the wire cable. The sausage
went up and of among the clouds
like a bubble in a whirlwind.
At a tremendous height the balloon
was struck by lightning and set on
Are, throwing one OF the officers out
Of the basket. His parachute opened,
but as the balloon, now falling like a
rock. had its rigging tangled up with,
the lower cords of the parachute. the
latter began descending at frightful
velocity through the storm clouds.
The officer might have cut the bal
loon loose, making his own escape a
certainty. but he would have doomed
his brother officer to certain death.
So he refrained, prsferring to take
the miliionth chance along with the
other man.
The velocity of the fall extinguished
the fire, which had burned q Ereat
hole in the balloon, and wind getting
in through this opening caused the
fabric to swell. thus forming a para
chute OF itself. The ground was
with a thud, which broke a
,ollar-bone or two, but both young
men walked to the nearest dressing
where they reported before
first aid.