Gilpin observer., 1918-07-25

you, but the constant casualties among
your friends are very depressing.
You go out with your flight" and
get Into q 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 airdrome? Did the
Huns get hint
When darkness comes you realize
that, at any rate, he won't be back that
night. and you hope for 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 ycn watch for his cas-
ualty to appear in the war Office lists.
One day, perhaps a month later, a
message is dropped over the line by
the German flying corps with a 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-
ch0ly phase of the scouts life when
an orderly told me there was a beauti-
full battle going on in the air, and he
volunteered to help me outside the
hospital that l might witness it., and
1 readily accepted his assistance.
That afternoon I 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 ]
thought their superior skill might save
the day for them. despite the fact that
they were SO hopelessly outnumbered
One thing was sure Of: they would
never give In.
OF course, 1t would have been a com.
paratively simple matter for our men,
when they saw how things were going
against them, to have turned their
noses down, landed behind the Ger
man lines and given themselves up as
prisoners, but that is not the way of
the r. f. @.
A battle Of this kind seldom lasts
many minutes, although every second
seems like an hour to those who par.
ticipate in it, and even onlookers suf-
fer more thrills in the course of the
struggle than they would ordinarily
experience in lifetime. 1t is appar.
ent even to novice that the losers
fate is death.
OF course, the Germans around the
hospital were all watching and roofing
for their comrades, but the English
too, had one sympathizer in that group
who made no effort to stifle his admira.
ton for the bravery his countrymen
were displaying.
The end came suddenly. Four ma
chimes crashed to earth almost stimuli
taneOusly. 1t was an even break-twC
Of theirs and two Of ours. The Others
apparently returned to their respective
lines.
| The wound in my mouth made 1t i'm
possible for me to speak, but by mean,
OF a pencil and paper requested one
Of the German officers to find out fol
me who the English officers were wht
had been shot down.
| A little later he returned and handed
me photograph taken from the bod,
of one Of the victims. It was pictur,
Of Paul Raney Of Toronto, and myself
taken together! Poor Raney! He wal
the best friend had and one Of tn,
best and gamest men Who ever Tough
in France.
1t was he learned long after, who
whes. / was reported missing, ha,
checked over all my belongings an,
sent them back to England with /
signed memorandum-whlch Is now II
my possession. Poor fellow, he littl
realized then that but day or tw,
later he would be engaged in his las
heroic battle with me a helpless on
lcSkeri
The same German officer VIII
brought me the photograph also drew
a map for me Of the exact spot wher
Raney was buried in Flanders.
guarded 1t carefully all through m
subsequent adventures and finall
turned 1t over to his father and mothe