The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1917-09-12

letter received from james Nor
man Hall, corporal I'm the Lafayette
escadrille, who was wounded and
brought down In fight with half n
dozen Germans I'm June, has been re-
ceived In this country.
Mr.. Hall is an Iowa man who enlist
ed In the British army in London I'm
August of 1914.
About two weeks ago l met q
whole nest of Germans, got shot
through the shoulder and am now I'm
hospital, out of action for ut least six
weeks to come.
1T all happened on June 2G-or was
1t the 25th? Twelve of us went out at
1870 p. m. and were to patrol the lines
until 9:15. We were to have a rendez-
vous over scissors at 10000 feet and
then to divide into two groups of six
machines each, one patrol going to
one section of our front and one to an
other lost my patrol and so kept on
by myself, knowing that would find
them again sooner or later, as we had
a particular, well defined sector to
cover.
"Arehies" Kept Him Busy.
"The arches were keeping me
awfully busy. l had never had them
burst so close to me before nor SO
many Of them at once. They bark
when they are near, a sort of wool,
wool, wOOf,' which you hear quite
plainly above the roar of your motor,
and the conclusion tips your machine
up'and down i'm very uncomfortable
manner. l was between 1000 and
1000 feet up, and yet those German
gunners were planting them awfully
close. They've got their work down to
a science. By JOve, but they shot well!
However, in machine that travels at
12o miles an hour you simply laugh at
archies-until one hits you.
1.-THE trenches are q wonderful sight
from the air, particularly during an at
tack. You see more of the detailed ac-
ton, of course, and hear nothing. But
you can see for miles and miles the
long brown strip Of ground that makes
the firing line and the flashes of the
guns and the shell bursts. There is a
tremendous fascination in seeing all
this from an altitude of two miles, and
to me-knOwing. as do, what it is like
to hug the parapet under heavy shell
fire-a horror in the sight as we'll. /
went far down the line so far that l
could see Rheims and the tower of the
Cathedral. Then | came back, keeping
a sharp lookout all of the time, fitting
my machine first on one side. then on
the other, and whirling around like a
cat trying to catch its own tail. Ones
greatest danger In the air is that of be-
ing pOunced on by surprise. You hear
nothing but the roar Of your own mo-
tor and SO keep twisting and turning
on your own track constantly.
Saw German Machines.
FINALLY l saw six or seven machines
about five kilometers back of the Ger
man lines. couldn't distinguish
they were French or German
and decided to go over closer to have a
look, only to find out they were Ger
man machines.
They all started for me- The near
est German and / opened fire about at
the same instant We passed each 9TH
er like the wind and not more than
seventy-five meters distant. Then my
began to get peppered, and
felt Il smack in the shoulder as though |
some one had hit me with club. 1t |
my left side and arm and |
made me feel lOgy, so that lost con-
irOl of my machine, and 1t dived |
straight down with motor full on. You
AN imagine the speed. fell a deuce |
" Il way before | could get the motor |
shut off. | Strengthened out then, but |
had fallen so fast that | was barely |
Il started to fall again and said
goodby to life,' for l thought l was a
,Oner. But made great effort and
'traightened out again when only about
100 feet above ground. l thought to
myself Now If l can only hold on to
ny wits until | landv Then everything
vent black, and didn't remember an
'ther thing until / was on stretcher
'tiS oNti Sonit tiSh'hNo ny
couple of poilus. Believe me, 1t was a
elief to see those blue uniforms, to
NOW that / was in the hands Of
friends. As it was. fell right in first
inc trench, not 300 meters away from
he German line. Wasn't that luck?
NY machine was badly smashed, for, as
have said, it landed itself without any
Except subconscious help from me, but
have nothing except bruises, nothing
'roken except skin! 1t is really
miracle that wasn't killed in the fall.
'I've been decorated, exteriorly-a
roix de guerre with palm and the
nedaille militaire. I don't deserve
hem: honestly l don't. There are fell
ows at the American escadrille who
ave done far better service and who
AVE received no medals. do foolish
hing. get brought down, and they re-