Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-23

a new experience for me to drive di-
rectly back of guns that kept ex-
ploding all day long and the loud
est things ever. A few boche aero
planes hovered over the place and II
was u great game to speculate on
| plode.
The roads were rather poor and
Iull OF holes, but l found that the
best thing TO do was to keep travel
ing. | might add that gas masks are
| very handy article to possess
when YOU see a certain signal given
| YOU realize cloud of gas is coming
| your way.
Inspects Aviation Camp
Ihe water supply is never used,
consequently You rarely see 1t. The
french drink Pinard (wine) and ii
is served in all the canteens. 1t is
a very cheap wine and a little sour,
| put one has become accustomed to
| II. | have gone many days without
| seeing drop of H-2-O fit to drink.
Ihfnk of it-one longs for our dear
Susquehanna. Most of the wines are
more expensive and preferable than
Pinard. The days go on just the
same, but | had the opportunity of
| gong to a small aviation headquar-
ters one day and accepted-it was
there | saw the way two human lives
en- be taken in less than 25 seconds
Ats a. m: | started from one post and
was at the aviation headquarters by
Z. noticed quite q few planes in
the air as l approached the place
lhey We're practicing all kinds of
stunts. After parking my car near
the hangers, for IT was my duty to
stay here all day to carry any man
that might haNa 30 n
hospital, | passed successful
morning and was invited to dine
with three of the lieutenants. We
were seated in a small room around
table constructed of rough boards
with a bench on either side. The
luncheon consisted of soup, bread.
Plnard and some very dark meat
(not horse this time) and chese. A
small fellow with one eye was the
cook. Everything tasted very good.
My mentioning the one-eyed cook
was merely to show you how men
unable for active service in the
trenches could be used-I had n bot
Tile or white wine with me, which l
mad bought at the small town of -
where we stayed-I opened it for
my comrades. They were all much
pleased and appreciated it greatly,
Tor 1t was great treat for them at
this time. They insisted on keeping
IT Tor the last course-the cheese.
After l gave each one a glass, and
as quickly as l had filled the last
glass they were all on their feet
toasting to America. After lunch
con l inspected the large guns in the
various machines, was shown one of
the headquarters of the men. There
was long abri alongside the hangar
Where the men could go for safety
when the boche planes came for a
raid. Large searchlights were To-
Gated in different places for use at
night and many anti-aircraft guns
were here and there. 1 was taken
in the room where photos were kept
which the French pilots had taken
when flying over the German
trenches.
Witnesses Midair Collision.
1t was interesting to see the many
different pictures of the locations
of the .boche artillery and supply
camps. The pictures are unusually
clear although taken from a high al
utude. The afternoon soon passed
and L was congratulating myself on
having such a successful day for no
one had been injured said that
Just a little too soon-for not more
than one-quarter of mile way l saw
two aeroplanes-flying dangerously
rising dive" which is used when
fighting the boche planes. They
ascend far into the air, suddenly
drop sideways for distance,
straighten out and fly speedily along.
The second time for some unknown
reason the two planes came together
and backed planes. We all knew
what was to follow and it did-both
planes came to earth Hopping like
lnaNnc Thnxy 10 IN, IL -
a quarter of a mile from when l was
stationed. A man jumped on the
front seat with me and off we went,
across the fields in my ambulance as
fast as could get the old car to go.
The sight we beheld was awful.
Quite a few farmers had gathered
around the wreck before we arrived
and had taken the aviators out of
the wreckage placing them on the
ground.
Horrible Sights.
They were the worst mangled hui
man beings l ever hope to see. AS
the engines are located in the back
of the machine. they fell on top of
the aviators. The one poor fellow
had no foot on his left leg, and the
bone of his left leg was sticking out
through the flesh, his face was
slashed so that it hung over his ears
and he was blood from head to foot
l had to put him on a stretcher-a
terrible ordeal, | never hope to pass
through again. The other fellow was
badly mangled, but I shall tell no
more for / know how very much you
dislike these things. To be frank, [
have not written many of my expe-
riences for | realize how you dislike
all suffering and consequently l shall
just tell a few. Very few of the
fellows ever talk about their expe-
riences, one goes about his work me-
chanicallY and tries to do his duty.
1t almost seems impossible for two
llVes to pass away so quickly as these
TWO mon and yet in larger aviation
camps the average is very high. II
took few photos of the experiences
to show you / am not just talking
for you people in America can read
about these things happening and
say, rs that so?" How terrible"
Speaking of photos my little cam
era has been working finely and II
have taken many, many pictures. II
returned to camp headquarters safe
ly and never shall forget ,the day II
spent at the Aviation Camp as Am
bulancier. Before we left ] planned
little trip with one of the fellows to
enjoy two days visit at Meaux-
which is near the towns that PLAYED
a prominent part in the Battle Of
the Marne.' l consulted my friend
the Captain and he said he would IL
glad to give me an order of move
ment" to go to Meaux. Now please
get your map and follow me on the
trip.
Visits City of Meaux.
We stationed our cars at Couillv
and went to Meaux. The first day
sNaa. N.-I