The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-08-02

could speak all languages. One OF
| them was a mere boy who had been
born in Jersey City, N. j., and had
spent all his life in America until
the beginning of 1914. Then he moved
with his folks to Germany, and when
he became of military age the Huns
forced him into the army. 1 think II
the truth were known he would much
rather have been fighting for America
than against her.
found that most of the prisoners
remained at Courtrai only two OF
! three days. From there they were in
variably taken to prisons in the inte
rior of Germany.
Whether it was because I was an
American or because 1 was a flyer,
don't know, but this rule was not fol.
| lowed in my case. I remained there
two weeks.
During this period Courtrai was con,
stantly bombed by our airmen. Not a
single day or night passed without one
| or more air raids. In the two weeks
l was there l counted 81 of them. The
town suffered a great deal of damage
| Evidently our people were aware that
the Germans had lot of troops con
centrated in this town and besides the
headquarters staff was stationed there
| The kaiser himself visited COurtrai
| while l was in the prison, l was told by
| one Of the Interpreters, but he didn't
| call on me, and for obvious reasons
couldn't call on him.
The courtyard was not very popu
lar place during air raids. Several
| times when our airmen r6ided that
section in the day time l went out and
watched the machines and the Shrap-
mel bursting all around; but the Ger
mans did not crowd out there, for their
own antiaircraft guns were hammer
| ing away to keep our planes as high
in the sky as possible, and shells were
| likely to fall in the prison yard any
| moment. Of course l watched these
battles at my own risk. Many nights
from my prison window l watched
with peculiar interest the air raids
carried on, and it was a wonderful
sight with the German searchlights
playing on the sky, the flaming on
| ions" fired high and the burst of the
antiaircraft guns, but rather an un'
comfortable sensation when l realized
| that perhaps the very next minute q
bomb might be dropped on the building
in which 1 was a prisoner. But per-
| haps all of this was better than nc
excitement at all, for prison life soon
| became very mOn0tonOuS.
One of the hardest things l had tC
endure throughout the two weeks
| spent there was the sight of the Hun
machines flying over COurtrai, know
! ing that perhaps l never would have
| another chance to fly, and l used to sit
! by the hour watching the German ma
| chimes mancuverfng over the prison
as they had an airdrOme not far away
| and every afternoon the Students-Ol
! l took them for students because their
| flying was very pOOr-appeared over
| the town. One certain Hun seemed to
| find particular satisfaction in flying
| right down over the prison nightly, for
| my special discomfort and benefit, ii
| seemed, as if he knew an airman i'm
prisoned there was vainly longing to
| try his wings again over their lines.
! But I used to console myself by say
ing: "Never mind, old boy, there was
never a bird whose wings could not
| be clipped if they get him just right,
! and your turn will come some day"
| One night there was an exception
| ally heavy air raid going on. a num-
| ber of German officers came into my
room, and they all seemed very much
! frightened. l jokfngly remarked that
! it would be fine if our airmen hit the
| old prisOn-the percentage would be
very satisfactory-one English officer
| and about ten German ones. They
| didn't seem to appreciate the joke,
! however, and, indeed, they were ap-
parently too much alarmed at what
was going on overhead to laugh even
at their own jokes. Although these
night raids seem to take all the starch
out of the Germans while they are