Cheyenne record., 1918-07-25
you. but tho constant casualties among

you. but tho constant casualties among
your friends are very depressing.
You 90 out with your '.night' md
get into . muss. You get scattered,
and when your formation Ii broken up
you finally wing your way home alone.
Perhaps you are the arst 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 wayf Has he landed
at some other airdroms1 Did the
Huns get himf
When darkness comes you realise
that, at any rate, he won't be back that
night. and you hope for q telephone
call from him telling Of his where
abouts.
II the night passes without sign or
word from him, he ID reported a. miss
ing and then you watch for his cas-
ualty to appear In the war ONCE Lists.
One day. perhaps q month later. .
message II 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 1t 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 q beauti-
full battle going ON in the air. and he
volunteered to help me outside the
hospital that ! might witness 1t, and
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 I 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 30 unequal that victory for
our men was hardly to be thought of.
and yet at one time they SO completely
outmaneuvered the Huns that I
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. q.
A battle Of this kind seldom lasts
many minutes, although every second
seems like an hour to those who par
ticipate in 1t, and even onlookers suf-
fer more thrills in the course of the
struggle than they would ordinarily
experience in a lifetime. It is appar-
ent even to a 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 sympathixer in that group
who made no effort to stifie his admira-
ton for the bravery his countrymen
were displaying.
j. The end came suddenly. Four ma
chimes crashed to earth almost stimuli |
taneously. It was an even break-two
Of theirs and two Of ours. The others
apparently returned to their respective
lines.
The wound In my mouth made it Inn
possible for me to speak. but by means
of a pencil and paper requested one
Of the German officers to find out for
me who the English oflcers were who
had been shot down.
A little later he returned and handed
me a photograph taken from the body
Of one Of the victims. It was picture |
Of Paul Raney Of Toronto, and myself,
taken togetheri Poor Raneyi He was
the best friend had and one Of the |
best and gamest men who ever fought |
in France.
It was he I learned long after. who,
when I was reported missing, had
checked over all my belongings and
sent them back to England with q
signed memorandum-which II now In
my possession. Poor fellow, he little
realized then that but q day or two
later he would be ensaged In his last
heroic battle with me q helpless on
ldokeri
The same German odicer who
brought me the photograph also drew
Q map for me Of tAs enact SPOT WAsEo
Raney was buried In TIande9s. I
guarded II carefully an through NJ
subseqUsnt advsaturss and AnAIly
turned Il over % Ais fatAer and mother
1Asa I visited thsa IN Toeo0to - -