The Tupelo journal., 1917-08-03
IMPERIAL FLYING CORPS. CAN.
ADA.


by the brother of Ried Lipscomb Of
Tupelo, to his parents, and we are
accorded the privilege of reproduc-
ing the following extract. We are
given an insight into the work of the
aviation corps of the army and also
of the conditions of those who return
from the European battle fields:
Toronto, Oontario., Z, 81, 1917.
eve had a fine trip all the way up,
special Pullman all the way from
Chattanooga. | only wish we could
have made all the trip by day, as we
missed some Of the prettiest scenery
travelling at night. This, Toronto, I
know, is the most beautiful city in
the world. We've been kept so very
/ busy since we arrived that l havn't
had a chance to see much of it, but
what l have seen is too wonderful
for description. AS raj printed at
the head of the Toronto Daily Star
yesterday afternoon, "These are the
happy days in peerless Toronto when
one stands out in the zepher-temper-
ed sunshine and ecstatically x
claims Glorious" and ven this
doesn't do justice to such a wonderful
climate. This morning we marched
double time to the stirring music of
a real bagpipe band of the 48th Reg
iment of the Canadian Highlanders
lust from overseas, and nearly all of
whom are wearing wounds received
in the bloody fighting. There are a
big lot of American officers in town
today trying to enlist some of the
thousands of American tourists who
are swarming over into Canada IN
mindful of the duty they owe their
country or their fellow men. You
can see big U. S. army and navy
posters in all the big hotels.
We, the 10 of us who r called
the american Army" here in Toron-
to, are the cynosure of all eyes, and
we are everyone treated royalty. |
never saw such hospitality as these
people show Americans. Yesterday
afternoon We. were up town and were
stopped on the street by a well-to-do
gentleman, who asked US u names
and if we we're not Americans. He
said he wanted US to come out and
have dinner with him. And that
night he came around for us in his
Pierce Arrow and such a dinner as
we. did have! After dinnned he took
us to the theater. And by the way
he was a Kappa Sigma. He has
something to do with the Canadian
Pacific Railway and lives in a regu-
lar mansion out on st. Melodies
avenue
Everything here is sky high and
after you buy it you have to pay one
cent extra War tax on everything
from a match up. We are working
mighty hard, even harder than we did
at Oglethorpe, learning the English
drill regulations. We are learning a
special aviator's drill for ceremonial
occasions, such as aviators' funer-
ais, etc. "The American Army"
1--WE 18) and the american Navy"
ga of the Naval Reserves from
Boston) are the first American mill
tary men to reach Canada and they
think we're the greatest soldiers in
the world. We will go over to
France in about 3 months to complete
our training, after which We will Re
sent to San Diego, Calf. as in
structors. We will make II SOLO
flights at Long Branch, IL miles
north of here, in Canadian machines
Monday.
The war is brought very close to
us here. Every day the daily papers
publish a list of the killed and wound
ed and gassed of Toronto, and it al
ways covers from / to A full columns.
There are over 100000 soldiers
from Toronto alone in Europe, and
you never pass down a block with
out seeing wounded men, any num-
bers of them, with arms missing, legs,
ears and eyes gone, with bayonet
wounds on their necks. This is the
central distributing point for artifi-
cial limbs, and they won't let a fell
low go to the states who has lost his
leg, unless he has a cork one.
We've had our pictures made about
12 dozen times. The Pathe people
got them the other day and will
show them in the states on the Pathe
Weekly.