The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-04

However, on May 31st, 1915, there
came to me the fateful certificate
which passed me as an army pilot.
My joy was unbounded. Never, ex-
cept, perhaps, when 1 beat Billy Wells
at Client, had I experienced such de-
light You rem ember my affair with
Wells at the Client exhibition. No
sooner had we stood up to box than
Wells landed one of the heaviest
punches he was capable ola beau
tiful, straight one, with the full
weight of his body behind it. I flop
petI to my knees; I could feel myself
going green; could hear the shouts
of despair of my countrymen. many
of whom had come from my native
Lens; and all could see in front of
me was a big grey shadow, which was
Wells.
must confess that I felt that was
beaten. Never before, had L been hit
SO hard as T was by the big, tall Eng
lishman. But I struggled up, kept
my wits, pulled myself together, and
then, in the fourth round, had Wells
! stretched on the floor. 1 remember
nearly jumped out of my skin when
I saw that 1 had beaten England's
heavyweight champion. No victory
tcould have been sweeter.
When I went flying over the enemy
lines on this first occasion, and on
each and every time afterwards, L
Ifelt that there was no sport like it;
/ the mind, the body, the soul, every
| thing tingled. To flirt with and
cheat death, to- do. that now-as L
| sit in the quiet of my quarters at Nice
seemed the impossible, was an in
toxication. Bullets have often whis-
| tied round my acceptance; shells have
often burst uncomfortably near to it,;
many times it has rocked; and on one
| OCCASION when I was flying right
over the highest peaks of the Vosges
Mountains, my motor suddenly plum
ged.
/ The silence was too awful to des-
cribe And in silence, L believe, I
grinned and leered. 1t was sure
death, or possible life, at the best, so
I thought.
I clutched to the hope that should
live through it. For the second time,
shadow in front of me; but, as then,
I kept my wits. The sense of quiet,
the feeling of utter lonelieness, the
great mountains down below that
seemed to beckona and sjeer and make
faces at me, quickened my senses.
+ dared to risk landing. And I
prayed for the mountains to hold and
catch me-.
| Down, down I went, gently, grace
fully. Like some majestic bird, I am
sure my aeroplanes looked.
Would I land? And down, down
went.
It seemed impossible. and yet
hoped for some miracle to happen.
And a miracle did happen BY
great good fortune-how I managed
| 10 do IN ,,nif1 ny- oh,
+ be able to tell landed on a sort
Of platform just at the top of a peak
i I have said that I landed. y AS a. mat
ter of fact, I came crashing down
| and my plane was smashed to bits
4 I was badly knocked sup, but not SC
seriously that I was able to make
sure that I was whole. Which was
the miracle I had prayed might hap.
/ pen; otherwise, I would have been
killed. Still, I am very much alive
i This fall happened on August 18
1915.
i Sent to a hospital I laid there 70,
a fortnight, when. tired of being cod
died, sick unto death of just lying
about, I declared that I was fit fol
duty again. The hospital authorities
4 with kindly consideration which ]
& shall always appreciate, offered me g
! fortnight's conva1escent leave5 but !
wanted to escape from my well-inten-
ttioned friends in Paris, and, only
wishing to get back to the fighting
!. line, refused the proffered concession
, (which refusal brought me the hearty
congratulations of the commanding
officer.
1t was necessary for me to go bacl
to LIE Bourget, SO as to get a new ma
. chine. With one I was quickly pro
lvided, and I was ordered to attach
myself to a squad as a registering
aviator for a battery of heavy guns
which meant that = ~as to be tn,
eyes of the heavy gunners, andsI wal
to fly alone.
> This, my new unit, was in Cham
payne, and as I Joined it a few day
,, before the great and terrible attacl
on September 25th. you will appreci
. ate my meaning when I say I wa
just in time for what proved to b,
my warmest experience of the war $,
Ifar. lis beyond any man to con.
vey to those who did not actually liv,
through those days any idea or VIVA
!, it was like in this part of France a
:, that time. -
FL have read many pen-pictures O
the strife, the vast loss of life, tn,
misery and the glory of it, all, but n,
written words can explain and max
: you believe what life was in Cham
payne at this period. Perhaps at tn
|, time i did not realize it. am sur
. didn't; only now when am rest
: ing can + imagine what the horror
: of 1t all were.
Imagine yourself at the ring-side
You see things which the boxer Meth
err sees nor feels; it is possible tina
!. you see one or other of the fighter
: u waging battle with all the odd
q against him; you feel pain when h
: feels no pain; the blows hurt yol
more than they hurt the boxer, TO
the reason that he is made impervi
: Gus to pain by being in the YER
throes Of the fight. His mere con
,centration on beating his opponen
). lessons his consciousness that he i
being hammered into defeat
This, if you can understand my 81
mile, was exactly my position whel
? plunged into the fighting at Cham
!. payne. I saw in it at that time moth
l ing abnormal; it was but phase @
2 the war, and, like every other air
Il man, the fact that I was called upo
to fly five hours every day with tn
l great live possibility. of being potte
:. and done for regarded just as par
and parcel of my ordinary work.
To go up alone, as 1 did, to act a
have explained as the eyes of GU