The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-03-28


aown among them. hurting bombs
to the right and the left. A dozen or
more Huns crumpled up as the
bombs exploded. The Boche turned
machine gun on the gigantic Yank,
but before they could spray him with
shot big Bill landed a bomb I'm
their midst. and the gunners were
wiped out. big BilP' grabbed the
machine gun, turned it back along
the trench and riddled several more
Germans with their own bullets.
Then covering the survivors with the
gun the powder-stained Yank from
Harlem beloved March" The
Boches couldn't understand English.
but they understood what he meant,
and they marched to the Canadian
! lines with Big Bill" stalking grimly
behind them. big Bill" was decor
ated with the Croix de Guerre and
the Legion of Honor medal. His
feat Is still the talk Of the Canadian
contingent.
The unblemished character of
American courage as eXemplified in
the career of Kifflin Rockwell, a
twenty-four-year-old American flier,
who recently gave up his life fighting
in France.
Rockwell was member of the
American escadrille, and few
weeks after his arrival in France he
showed the kind of stuff Americans
are made of. On this occasion he
was making a little tour in the air
over the French lines He was
about to skim back to his hanger
when be saw Moche machine about !
500 meters under him and little in
side the French lines.
Rockwell Immediately reduced his
motor and dived for the enemy. The
latter saw that trouble was on the
way and started to scoot home. The
Boche machine had a pilot and a
gunner and carried two rapid-fre
guns. one facing the front and one
in the rear that turned on a pivot so
1t could be fired in any direction.
The Boche gunner Immediately
opened fire on the American. Rock.
" T.. : -.-,, sine "as hit. but he. SstSufSn ION
pay any at..A1ca.s-.-As ior Ii
J, s,eflin., - I'd was up. He swoupe,
q for the enemy until he got with
q twenty-five or thirty meters from hi
: machine. Then Rockw I tired fiv
p Quick shots aEG swer 'ei his airplan,
:: the right 20 keep ,-o,i having
n c;llision. AS e AE.vI. car swep. b,
the enemy he had satisfaction of see
ing the Boche gunner fall back deac
, on the pilot; the machine gun which
the gunner had operated fell from
its position and pointed straight uI
into the sky; the Boche pilot wen
limp, as if he had been badly wound
, ed.
The Hun aircraft careened danger
ously and then dived vertically to
ward the ground with a lot of smoke
coming from the rear. 1t landed
a flaming wreck. just behind the Ger.
man lines. For this exploit Rock
we'll was proposed for the Medaille
Militiare. On another occasion
rockwell attacked Boche machine
at 5000 meters high and killed the
observer with the first shot Their
the Americans machine gun jamm.
ed. and while he was fixing it he fol
lowed the Hun plane down to 1900
meters. At that altitude he sue
ceeded in repairing his gun. He
riddled the Boche with bullets and
soon the enemy craft fell crashing
into the German trenches.
AT this juncture two other Boche
fiiers apeared on the scene and at
tackled the, nervy American fer a
close range. 1t was two against one
but Rockwell did not finch. Like &
hornet he maneuvered here and
there. inflicting ,stinging punishment
The Boches soon tired of playins
with fire and returned to their lines
Later this brave American bay was
killed in aerial combat over Rodern
in Alsace, and army orders have this
to say of him:
kiffin Yates Rockwell, an Ameri
can pilot, who ceaselessly won the
admiration of his chiefs, and hi:
comrades by his sangfroid, his cour.
age and his daring. Killed in the
course Of an aerial combat, Septem
ber %. 1916"
Have American fighters the re
sourcefulness of old?
Jim Norcross of Denver, Col, 8
member of the French flying squad
ron. was scouting fifteen miles bacl
OF the Boche lines when engine
trouble obliged him to alight in the
enemy's country. He repaired the
engine without being observed, bu
discovered to his dismay he had no
enough gasoline to get back to hi.
hangar. 1t was a desperate situa