Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1918-09-19

1t. J. ]. Sykes, of Mecklenburg county,
a son of Mrs. Margaret Dudley of Blew
EFT Falls. was killed in his plane in France
Aug. LIST while taking photos of German
trenches. The following letter was writ
ten to his mother by him about two weeks
before his DEATH
Paris, France.
Dear Mother:
Guess you have all been reading of our
late American successes. Well, our squad
ron did its part. We had machines ovel
| the line all the time. Am glad to say
dew as much as possible. made two
trips over most every day doing recon
Nuisance and photography work. Came
down one time after being Archied CHATS
what we call the Germans anti-aircraft
guns) pretty heavy and found two tears
in fucelage from exploding shrapnel, but
miss is as good as a miles you know;
when the Arches open up on us we i'm.
mediately start maneuvering and do all
the tricks that are possible with the plane
in order to give the Boche poor target
After you ind out where they Archled
4
course the next time. You swing around
and play clear of that one spot OH it's
real sport. A big explosion directly un-
der you will boldly lift the plane right up
and then drop you down again, but really
does no damage besides causing your
heart to be where your Adams apple
should be. butt usually drops to norma
again.
Guess you read of Quentin Roosevelt
bringing down Boche and and also OF
his being killed. | was talking to hin
Immediately after he landed, after down
ing his first plane; also happened to be al
their field the day he was killed and was
talking to him just few minutes before
he left on his last flight He was all en-
thusiasm and all of them were just itch
ing to get up into little scrap, wher
his squadron received orders to send III
a patrol, as l6 Boche chase planes had
been reported over our lines They ser
up Is American chase planes after them
and found the l6 and regular gang fight
ensued. Whether our boys brought down
anyot them I've never heard, but Roose-
welt never returned, and we afterward,
learned from word received fromG Germany
tthat he was brought down and buried
with military honors. Don't know wheth-
er you read how Roosevelt brought down
his Boche or not. Will write you Just as
he told me himself how it happened. He
said: They were over good ways into
Germany in formation and got away
from the bunch few minutes. turned
to look for them again and saw three
planes which took for ours away ahead
of me and going further into Germany;
wondered why they were going so far in
but said to myself if Ham (which is a
good friend of his, who was leading the
formation) goes in, will 60 with him.
had about caught up with them, when
one of them turned his plane little, and
gee whiz! there was the black cross on
the wing. Realizing my mistake then,
also realized they hadn't noticed me so
just kept on going and gaining on them
until | judged l was about 100 meters
(meter is about 80 inches) from the last
plane, then l took aim on it and fired
about 100 shots and l saw the ..plane slip
over and fall into spin, then the other
two realized what had happened and turn
ed and started after me, but had turned
first, so left them. took one last look
at the Boche plane which !, had fired at
just before it went into some clouds, and
it was still falling and spinning, so guess
| got him but it wasn't my fault | got
him, for thought they were our planes
| was following" The above is exactly
as he told me. We have some good chas-
Sc pilots over here. 1t makes you feel
good when up about $4,000 feet to see
about eight or ten of your own little
chase planes circling all around protect
ing you. One day had been over TAX
ing pictures. We blew Tout spark plug
of our motor and. had to throttle her
down and glide and land at French
field. signalled one of our chase planes
to US down and he did and landed right
behind us; then we strapped all of photo
graph plates on his plane and he immed-
lately took off and carried them to our
field to the photograph laboratory and
they had the pictures finished about as
quickly as they would have if our motor
had not gone bad on u.s."