Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1918-09-12
Aviator, Stranded in No Mans
Lane, Faces Fire of
Friend and Foe.
WAVED SIGNAL 70 FRENCH
BY Fast Running Sergeant eaugnam
Reaches Comrades in safety-Is
Rewarded With Military Med
al by the French.


drille to the Paris Air Defense squad
rsn, has been reported a prisoner in
unofficial advlces to his mother, Mrs.
Mary A. Baugham, president Of tile
Dixie Agricultural company of Wash
ington. Sergeant Baugham joined the
Lafayette escadrille in 1917 when he
was eighteen years old and won the
Military medal, the highest French
honor to noncommlssioned men.
The incident that earned the SER
geant the medal was described In let
ter he wrote recently. Paying tribute
to the wonderful spirit of his French
comrades, Sergeant Baugham said:
I'VE had been sent out to patrol
back Of the German lines and to at
tack anything enemy we saw. Having
incendiary balls in my gun, was pre-.
pared to attack a German Sausage
or observatory balloon. Just as / was
beginning the descent to attack, saw
Boche airplane going in the direction
OF our lines to do Photographic work.
put on full speed and signaled to the
other planes to follow. They evident
ly did not see my signal, for they
didn't go down with me. When l got
100 meters from the BOche l started
firing. The enemy replied by turning
loose both guns at me. l must have
got him, however, with the first blast,
for when / pulled up to make another
live he was silent.
"Then something happened that
ould make the coolest man on earth
uss, and as am not one of the best,
ou can imagine that left little un-
ID. My motor stopped absolutely
d. There, WIS only one thing for me
vas to e. lose the
eocne and Try t6 % the'
French lines. AS wsnSr the Ger
man machine it Immediately came
down and. putting some nice steel very
close to him, did all the acrobacy /
had ever learned. When / had finished
l found that / had come down from
10000 to 1000 feet and there was no
Boche in sight.
Alone In No Mans Land.
81 then looked around for place to
land. l saw a fairly good place off to
the right and made 1t. | then stepped
out Of the machine-right on the face
of dead German. 1t took me u min
ute to realize what was happening and
/ awoke to the sound of bullets whiz-
zing past my head. That didn't disturb
me much, because l was wondering
why somebody hadn't buried the Ger
man. Looking around, however, all
could see was dead Germans. 1t sud
denly dawned on me that l was in No
Mans Land. OF all the places there
are to land In France and Germany
had to land between the two.
"Then | realized what predicnment
/ was In and began to think up som'
way to get out of 1t. The thought camt
to me that II / was nearer the German
lines than to the French, ] had bettel
get rid of those lncendiary balls in m!
pocket, for If the Germans catch yoi
with them you are shot at once.
climbed back into my machine to tn,
tune of bullets and took out load o
over 300 cartridges, threw them on tn
ground and then removed my compass
and altlmeter.
"The first thing struck was a grave
unfinished, with two of the enemy Il
II. eased myself down into II, lifte
up one Of the Germans and put tn
cartridges beneath him. starte
walking back to my machine. As
got near II the Boche lines starte
their mltrallleurs and rifles ut me, an
the French, unaware that / was one
them. also opened up. l had to wal
500 feet between the lines and II wa
no Joke with all that fire concentrate
In my direction. One bullet passed
close to my face that really felt I'll
wind. decided that I'd have to go
one of the lines, enemy or friend, bl
Just then / heard machine overhea
Hooked up and saw white puils breal
ing out all around 1t.
slsnaled With Handkerchief.
~ "0n the way the fire got so hot
ad to fall face down, and | dldn
re for, guess, Ave minutes. The
10 good reason for my beiI
shm eafAdog, yanked out my han
kerchief and waved It ut the Fren'
lines. ~
"They finally got Il, after ten mi
utes Of waving, and saw a Fren'
officer beckonlng me from a bit
woods. II there ever has been a fast
50.yard sprint / never heard of 1t.
ran so fast that / ran right into {
officer, and very nearly knocked his
yolyer out of his hanl. l showed HI
my Identification cardpnd then start
curslng him for shooting at me.
had been taking potslpts at me q
there. He apologlzed, laying that
could only see my head because !
position was slightly loter than
Mans Land.
"They took me up to I'M division
general. and reported thatI had sc
more than 800 dead GermAIN and ol
two Frenchmen. 1t made hilNso hap
that he gave me dinner, oh COM