The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-09-28

you, but the constant casualties aiming
your friends are very depressing.
You 20 out with your flight" and |
get into a muss. You get scattered.
and when your formation Is broken up |
you finally wing your way home alone. |
Perhaps you are the first to land. |
Soon another machine shows In the
sky, then another, and you patiently
wait for the rest to appear. Within an
hour, perhaps, all have shown up save
one, and you begin to speculate and
wonder what has happened to him.
Has he lost his way7 Has he landed
at some other airdromei Did the
Huns get himf
When darkness comes you realize
that, at any rate, he won't be back that
night, and you hope for a telephone
call from him telling Of his where
abouts.
If the night passes without sign or
word from him, he is reported as MISS
ing and then you watch for his cas-
ualty to appear In the war office lists.
One day, perhaps month later,
message is dropped over the line by
the German flying corps with list OF
pilots captured or killed by the Huns,
and then, for the first time, you know
definitely why it was your comrade
failed to return the day he last went
over the line with his squadron.
was still musing over this melan-
choly phase of the scouts life when
an orderly told me there was beauti-
full battle going on In the air, and ne
volunteered to help me outside the
hospital that ! might witness 1t, and
I readily accepted his assistance.
That afternoon ! saw one OF the
gamest fights ever expect to witness.
There were six Of our machines
against perhaps sixteen Huns. From
the type of the British machines knew
that they might possibly be from my
own aerodrome. Two Of our machines
had been apparently picked out by
six of the Huns and were bearing the
brunt Of the Fight. The contest seemed
to me to be so unequal that victory for
our men was hardly to be thought OF.
|. and yet at one time they so completely
outmaneuvered the Huns that l
thought their superior skill might save
, the day for them. despite the fact that
, they were SO hopelessly outnumbered.
. One thing I was sure Of: they would
never give in.
OF course, It would have been COM
paratively simple matter for our men,
when they saw how things were going
? against them, to have turned theif
, noses down, landed behind the Ger
; man lines and given themselves up as
prisoners, but that Is not the way OF
! the r. T. G.
A battle of this kind seldom lasts
| many minutes, although every seconc
!. seems like an hour to those who par
q ticipate In 1t, and even onlookers sui
. fer more thrills in the course of tbs
8 struggle than they would ordinarily
experience In a lifetime. 1t Is appar
D emit even to a novice that the losers
{ fate Is death.
OF course, the Germans around tn
q hospital were all watching and rootini
d for their comrades, but the English
r too, had one sympathizer in that groul
It who made no effort to stifie his admira
b ton for the bravery his countrymel
: were displaying.
e The end came suddenly. Four ma
l. chimes crashed to earth almost stimuli
Il taneously. 1t was an even break-tw
y of theirs and two of ours. The other
o apparently returned to their respectiv
II lines.
III The wound in my mouth made 1t I'm
y possible for me to speak, but by mean
r of a pencil and paper ! requested on
of the German officers to find out TO
,e me who the English officers were VIII
y had been shot down.
n A little later he returned and handle
J. me a photograph taken from the bod
If of one Of the victims. 1t was pictur
a of Pau, Raney Of Toronto, and mysel
O. taken together! Poor Raney! he wa
y the best friend I had and one OF tn
~ best and gamest men who ever fougf
" In France.
OF IT was he, learned long after, win
b. when I was reported missing, ha
or checked over all my belongings an
ae sent them back to England with
rs signed memorandum-which Is now
my possession. Poor fellow, he lit
Id realized then that but a day or tv
ed later he would be engaged In his La
=. heroic battle with me o helpless o
ly locker!
ed The same German officer wi
mr. brought me the photograph also DIRE
ad map for me Of the exact spot whe
re Raney was buried in Flanders.
te. guarded 1t carefully all through n
gs subsequent adventures and final
g. turned II over to his father and moth
to when Z visited them In Toronto to pt