Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-01
II. JOHN N ART HUR.
WILMINGTON Filler,
BR| n ACS DOWN BOCHE
Commended by General Pershing
for Distinguished
Performance.
SHOWED GREAT BRAVERY

Though he has been flying at the battle
front in France only about a month,
Lieutenant John Macarthur. former resi-
dent Of WllmIngtok, achieved distinction
rs an aviator there last week, as IS attCstcd
In an official communique which General
PershIng sent to Washington on Saturday.
In thrilling encounter above and below
the clouds. on Monday, Lieutenant
Macarthur vanquished the enemy, who
persisted when his machine was wrecked
Lieutenant Macarthur came out Of the
encounter without a scratch The story IS
best told in General Pcrshing's official
communique, which is as follows.
Section An the Chateau Thierry re-
gion we again improved our positions
south of Torcv. The number OF prisoners
taken by US at this point, In the operation
Of June % has increased 10 800. of whom
seven are officers There have been no
new developments AT other points held by
our troops Ii Is established that our svia-
tors have shot down three hostile ma
chimes in the Toul region since the begin
ming Of the week
Section B-Of the three planes men
toned in the American official com
muniQue of June 2S, one was brought down
at half-past nine O clock on the morning Of
June 24 between Pont t-a-Afousson and
Thiaucourt by Lieutenant Raymond.
Lieutenant RAYMOND encountered hos
tile hinlane wFffrh dived under his own.
Lieutenant RAYMOND then executed dive
on the hostile plane, firing as he did so He
saw tracer bullets entering the fuselage of
the enemy plane The destruction OF the
hostile machine has now been confirmed.
The other two planes were shot down
on June 25 BY MAJOR Hartnev and Lieu
tenant Macarthur Major Hsrtney reports
that his patrol of four planes answering
the call at half-past eight o clock IN the
evening encountered two German planes
Of which one was a biplane rumpler and
the other monoplane. They were flying
al an altitude Of 4 500 metres. The
German monoDlane obtained q position
over the tail Of Lieutenant Hill machine.
Major Hartney fired a long burst at the
monoplane, which turned over and landed
upside down. The German rumpler BIZ
plane was pursued by Lieutenant Mac
Arthur below the cloud level The two
machines exchanged fire. On emerging
from the cloud level the hostile machine
went over backward. Lieutenant Mac
Arthur vas at one time within thirty
wards of the German plane was able to
observe that his tracer bullets entered the
fuselage and is certain that the observer
was wounded before the plane fell. He
fired total Of 220 rounds. The destruc-
tons Of these planes also has been con
hrTned
LIVED IN WILMINGTON.
Lieutenant Macarthur. who Is a grand
son Of Mrs Martha p. Ward Of the Don
aldson apartments. 1904 jefferson street
and a nephew Of Christopher l. Ward,
well-known " ilmIngtOn lawyer, lived in
Wilmington whe9 q boy and also later
At the time there was a call for troops 70 20
to the Mexican border he Was emploved
here lv the du Pont Powder Co. beng an
electrical engineer He was one Of the
frst here 10 answer the call for volunteers.
enlistlng IN the National Guard from
which he was subsequently, transferred TO
the regular army He Is a Yale man.
having graduated n 1912 Upon being
transferred to the regular army he began
preparation for air serVIlc, receiving pre-
liminarv training at C1rnell and Prince
ton. after which he went 10 Fort Worth.
Tex. where he mastered the art Of flying
under the direction Of officers of the Royal
FLYING Corps He WAS one Of the members
of a picked squadron which went to France
in February Of this year, under command
Of Major Hartley. He has been at the
front since April but has just recently
received his battle plane.
Lieutenant Macarthur is son Of
Charles p Macarthur, chief engineer Of
the Buffalo division Of the Pennsylvania
railroad, who lives in Buffalo. When
.John was IA boy the family lived in Viii
iuington. Mr. Macarthur having bis
Headquarters here at that time The
lieutenant is about 25 years old and