Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-25

Avord. France,
Thursday, Aug. 16, 1917.
Dear Mother:-Am writing this in
a hangar, so please excuse pencil. In
case you don't know what hangar
means, I1l tell you. It's merely a
big canvas tent in which the aero
planes are stored. There seems to be
little chance of getting any practice
Tonight as the wind is still blow
ing rather strongly and has been for
the last two days. We have to march
and stay there four hours whether
we work or not. This causes an
awful lot of kicking, especially since
they changed the number of meals
from six to two. You Will admit
yourself that is quite a come-down,
and since the first meal comes at IL
a. m. and the second one at p. M,
one gets pretty hungry between
times. Morning class is not so bad.
as we can buy our breakfast from
the peasant woman who comes every
morning, but at night class there is
some ravenous crowd, since no res
taurants are open between IL a. m.
and p. m, when we go to night
class. Last night 1 filled up on green
apples. Ate cheese this morning to
counteract the effect. Tonight
brought some chocolate with me,
which sure does hit the spot. This
state of affairs will not keep up for
long from the information we can
gather, as we expect to be shipped
to another camp in a few days to
Of fK.af frafrn 20
and then come back here and finish
if we make good. Thirty men from
my class were shipped away to Tours
yesterday, and we expect to follow
very shortly, If not to that camp to
another one of the same type. This
change busted our original party all
up and sure made me feel lonely for
while, for the six of us had grown
quite chummy and had hoped to go
through school together. AS it is
new, three of us are left here, with
prospects of being shipped to a diff
ferent camp. What made 1t worse
was that two of the fellows who were
shipped off had ordered suits from
the camp tailor Now it's an open
question whether they will ever get
them, although we are taking care
OF their interests as long as we re-
main. Fortunately. L had not ordered
a suit although L have the money.
and now 1 surely won't until 1 see
which way the cat jumps.
The men who left were mostly new
men, or men who had had the least
rides in the penguin. All those who
had over thirteen rides stayed here.
1 am here, but I'm not quite sure
whether I'm lucky or not Time
will only tell and so many rumors
are abroad that 1 would not believe
one If 1t came from Wilson direct.
As for my class work, 1 have had fif-
teen rides to date, and can say with
out boasting that l stand with the
leaders. At least, there are a whole
lot worse than 1 who have had twice
the amount of training. Every pre-
caution is taken to protect the pu-
pills, no one being allowed to ride
without his helmet. There seems 10
be an unwritten law among moniteurs
(teachers) not to wear helmets. for
| have seldom seen one wearing them.
Many amusing incidents occur in our
daily training. Several dude Portu-
guese officers came down here last
week, and while in the machine one
of them lost his monocle and went
through a hangar. OF course, it
wrecked the machine, but the officers
dignity was not even rufled. Last
evening a little Nieuport machine
(the fast machine 1 hope some day
to fiy) climbed up to a tremendous
height and then turning his machine
and heading it straight for the earth.
began doing acrobatics the like of
which 1 have never seen. 1t was a
beautiful sight though, as the east
with which he handled his machine
was wonderful to behold. Later one
of the biggest machines the French
build came flying over the hangar
and just as he was directly over us
shut off his engine and stopped dead
still. l tell you there was an awful
wind blowing, naturally he was head
ed into the wind. which made up for
his lost forward motion. 1t was very
amusing to see him hang there as
if suspended on a string and many
were the remarks of the Americans
one suggesting we throw him a rope,
or maybe his gas gave out and would
we send up a machine to replenish
his supply and tell him to haul in his
anchor. After hanging there for sew
eral minutes he switched on his pow
er, pulled up his anchor and came
down. Wind has died down, so will
have to leave you and go to class.
Next morning: Had one ride last
night. A very strong wind, which
even knocked the moniteur off the
course, so the fact that l got off
twice didn't make me feel so bad.
Beautiful morning and no wind what
ever. Just finished my second ride
for this morning. both of them being
good ones, although the machine
turns to the left. Just now the class
Is held up for repairs, six wires being
broken. No wonder, because this aero
plane has seen hard usage and is
becoming weakened all over, nearly
every ride causing something to break
usually a wire. which is quickly
repaired. Still hearing a lot of ru-
mors about the Americans being sent
away from here. and American regu-
lars being sent here in our places.
There is also lot of rumors cir
culating to the effect that we will
be transferred to the American serv-
ice, whether we wish or no.
Am getting real ignorant of events
happening in the world. as l rarely
read the papers when they do come.
There are so many other engrossing
things. WALTER,
Saturday. Aug. Is, 1917.
Dear Father guess it's Saturday
although 1 would not swear to it, as
days come and and go here with
amazing rapidity, and one has so