Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-07
Escadrille Spad IS.
Secteur Postal 102,

one also, else there might be 1eal-
ousy and strife in the heretofore
peaceful Shaffer household.
Some people might call inns
good day to write letters. 1or II Is
krainv and, of course, flying is I'M
possible. At least l have the time,
hut YOU are probably aware that
rainy davs never did improve my
disposition any. Not only that, out
it's very chilly, even II nave Il
war bungalow TO stay in, Tor there
are only three panes in the wlhdo"
and the other three missing pahes
give me a pain. Ventilation | nave
in plenty, but one can oNerdo any
thing. rs Dad is fond of saying.
This i nm excellent example and l
am DOING my best 10 cope with II.
Rut a candle don't give much heat
and also, is pretty expensive tuel'
stove l have not, but, believe me-
lust as soon as my punlshmenI Is
up. I'll sure HE me to town ana set
one. Yes. l have been punished
French Discipline
No. not by going to prison. out III
the usual original way of the trench
was given eight days "arrlte. 1oQ
may we'll look puzzled, and so 9lu l
when l read il. II certainly ala nut
mean prison and l could not thlhA t!
OF anything else it might mean,
soon. however. il was explained 70
No that for eight days l was 10 oe
allowed no permission away II IIollI
ramp Since aviators can always
cot an auto and permission 70 near
bI. towns on bad days, you can
see where the punishment came tII'
However, not being FrenchiAah' H.
the punishment amused me- oe
cause there was nothing Wahteu ~
town. EXCEPT a stove; so can 80
I have suffered so very much,
for the cause of all this, hao LoI-
gotten TO remove my aItlne'eI' -, SEll.
pass and watch from m! p,ane D.
| went zen panne' at Melette. re
suIt. Someone took the watch ana
the fault was laid to me for not re-
moving it: but since the camp !
had landed al was where my oIG
escadrille (I56) was Stationed.
thought il was not necessary. Inc
rantain understood this when l eN-
plained il 10 him, but said ne saw
the punishment not so much lot Nne ,
loss as for the lesson 1t woulo tedSE
me. 1t did. too. for day la'er
started out 10 hunt balloons anu 'i
lost nv propeller and part OF my
ongire in the air. Believe me, when
l rot down l lost no time in prylns
sysry instrument off in sight. even
rising a cold chisel on the compass
and then requested captain stanu
ing nearby 10 have three men guaru
the plane. .,,o-
happened so soon after my punlsh-
ment for the loss of the watch' the
Frenchmen had quite lot OF run
predicting how many days Wouia
get for losing the propeller. Iney
IL every time
I 90 up in the air. Just the same
losing ones propeller in the air is
no ioking matter, especially when
there is nothing to land on but sheH
holes. But this incident Just goes
to show how aviators as a class re-
gard CLOSE shave.
FLYING With Madon
The narrowest escape is always
the most amusing-if one gets away
with if: if not, his folks get no.
tice and he gets a 'croix de ools
instead of a "croiN de guerre.
am Just beginning TO realize
what an honor it was to fly with
Nadon and his ueutenants. the time
I knocked down my Boche. Ot
course. Putnam often few with him
when he was in the escadrllle, ana
he was only a sergeant. but ne
was one of the few exceptions. for
as rule he flies with his ohcers
as only one of them. Thus you can
see that a pilot who is not an ofn-
Ger must have something 10 rec
ommend him before the great
NIadon takes him along on his hunt
ing trips. And the only thing l had
to recommend me was oelng an
American, which seems to be quite
sufficient. as this particular ace
has a very high opinion OF an Amer
leans fighting ability. The fact that
l knocked down Boche during the
fight raised his already high opin-
ion of Americans another notch.
Really, I was more elated at up
holding his ideal of an American
than in getting the Boche, for II
YOU will remember. 1 did not see
the Boche crash" which would
at least have been a fitting reward
for my pains.
Officers Great Help
The officers. though, are all very
nice TO me. and now that both the
other Americans in the escadrille
are on permission, one 10 America
and the other in Paris, am literal
Is thrown on my own resources.
as far as speaking French is con-
cerned. anyway.
1t is here that the officers are a
great help 10 me, for I can under
s.-ad them where I cannot under
stand others. Naturally, they are
ritter educated as a rule than the
l--,!aI run OF corporals and ser
.... MS. As for the mechanics. after
-nay get done chewing up several
a~asas I don't know whether they
..-c salking Chinese or Hawaiian. II
really remarka BILE the difference
r.h which the different classes OF
nm speak this language. I sup
ruse the difference between a Bow
ery tough and a Boston professor
uould be a good comparison. Truly.
Il seems so TO me at times, for in
studying the books I have. natural
~ 1 acquire the pure. unadulterat-
ed French. and then / go out and
try a conversation. with the result
that in less time than five minutes
I'm in over my ears and lost as COM
pletely as the proyerbial needle in
the haystack. SO often has this oc-
CURED that I finally gave up study
ing books, because in talking both
construction. of sentences and words
are so entirely different. Quite
true. often very ungrammatical. but
spoken Now. 1 simply carry a
pocket dictionary around with me
and when a word pops up that is
unfamiliar I begin "chercher" right
away. The Frenchmen are not
above taking advantage OF this hab-
II, and often chuck several sem
teuces of French slang at me.
'Ramerad," is all I can answer to
thee sallics. for naturally l don't
get a word. and the Frenchmen