Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-08-08
SHOT, FELL TWO
NILES, YET LIVES
Corporal Hall Of Lafayette E.
cadriIIe Describes Battle.
SAID "soODBY TO LIFE

from the earSn ana men Evofy-
thing Went eiank"-Fortunstsly He
Landed Inside the Frsroh Lines and
Was Only Slightly Wounded.
A letter received from James Nor
man Hall, corporal In the Lafayette
escadrille, who was wounded and
brought down In q fight with half
dozen Germans In June, has been re-
ceived in this country.
Mr.. Hall is an Iowa man who enlist
ed In the British army In London In
August Of 1914.
About two weeks ago l met a
whole nest Of Germans, got shot
through the shoulder and am now In
hospital. out of action for at least six
weeks to come.
1T all happened on June 26-or was
II the 25th? Twelve Of us went out ut
7:S0 p. M and were to patrol the lines
until els. We were to have q 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 20 kept on
by myself, knowing that would find
them again sooner or later, a. we had
a particular, well defined sector to
cover.
AArehiss'" Kept Him Busy.
The arches were keeping me
awfully busy. I had never had them
burst so close to me before nor SO
many Of them at once. They bark
when they are near, q sort Of 'woof,
wool, woof,' which you hear quite
plainly above the roar Of your motor.
and the conclusion tips your machine
up and down In a very uncomfortable
manner. l was between 1000 and
1900 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 a machine that travels at
125 miles an hour you simply laugh at
archies-until one hits you =. .,s
: The trenches aye 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
tremendous fascination In seeing all
this from an altitude OF two miles, and
to knowing, as do. what 1t 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 I
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 whiriing around like q
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 / saw six or seven machines
about five kilometers back of the Ger
man lines couldn't distinguish
whether 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
err like the wind and not more than
seventy-five meters distant. Then my
machine began to get peppered, and
felt smack In the shoulder as though
some one had hit me with q club. II
numbed my left side and arm and
made me feel logy, 80 that lost con-
troll of my machine, and 1t dived
straight down with motor full on. You
can imagine the speed / fell deuce
Of way before could get the motor
shut OF. Strengthened out then. but
had fallen so fast that was barely
conscious.
II started to fall again and said
'goodby to life,' for thought 1 was q
goner. But I made a great effort and
Strengthened out again when only about
600 feet above ground. / thought Il
myself. Now II can only hold on t.
my wits until landr Then everything
went black, and didn't remember an
other thing until was on stretchel
being carried over some trenches by a
couple Of poilus Believe me. 1t was a
relief to see those blue uniforms, tC
know that was in the hands o1
friends. As it was. fell right In first
line trench, NOT 800 meters away from
the German line. Wasn't that luck
My machine was badly smashed, for, as
i have said. 1t landed itself without any
except suhconscious help from me. but
/ have nothing except bruises, nothing
broken except skin! 1t is really q
miracle that l wasn't killed In the fall.
I've been decorated, exteriorly-a
croix de guerre with palm and the
medaille militaire. don't deserve
them; honestly don't There are fei-
lows at the American escadrille who