The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-10-29

| iuioTLneQ as TO their Location anu
their needs. and to keep an eye on
the Boche for signs of counter at.
tack and to keep our command In
formed as to the general direction
| OF all Boche movements wherever
| they are seen. Wireless, of course,
Is the means, and confirmatory
message at the end of every flight.
! With the arches, machine gun bull
lets from the ground, which Is worse,
and Hun aviators, which are most to
be feared. 1t is lively occupation.
Also, as one can easily see, 1t Is the
most interesting part OF air work,
except, perhaps, directing the guns.
Fighting For Mastery Of the Air.
Again we had the mastery OF the
| air. but not to such an extent as we
had It in the last show. The Boche
| were out and interfered quite little
When they came too close to be
comfortable. and In numbers OF from
seven to ten. as they always fly,
while the infantry plane Is alone. we
flew back over our own troops and
very low, where the Boche was
afraid to follow, as they know our
| own machine guns on the ground
will protect us. This did not hap
pen often. but once in while
bunch Of them would slip past our
(! servation planes.
Pierson and left the ground at
8 o'clock and got to the scene Of &C.
| ton not long after that. 1t took us
about seven minutes to fly to the
front with q good motor pulling US.
We had the ground doped from the
maps and went to where our troops
would be, II things had gone well.
! There they were, answering our sig
| nails and giving signals to us @. x.
We spotted several German batteries
firing and gave the location, shot up
some German infantry who were
beating it to the rear along rail-
road track, looking for all the world
| like a bunch of hoboes all strung
out and all carrying bundles.
These Prisoners Were In Danger.
| We nearly made the mistake OF
taking a bunch of prisoners, who we
could see were Germans easily
enough by the color Of their uni
| forms, for a hostile advance, and
shooting into them, but stopped In
time when we got close and could
see what they really were.
| We got in at II o'clock, after TAX
ing a few long shots at Boche In the
air, having about six holes in the
plane from fire from the ground,
and a good time in general.
| We have made one trip each day
| since, but the first day Is always
the hardest; at least that Is our ex-
perience so far. And even harder
is the two days before-like waiting
1T
game.
ookinu For Other keokuk Soldiers.
i Our squadron again came out un-
scathed, but the other squadrons IN
the groups lost about six men and
three ships between them. We are
still on advancing schedule, and the
left division is calling quite often:
Where is my front line now?'
| The squadron is all enthusiasm
and pep and we think we have the
best G. o. in the air service. we
are hoping, however, for chance TO
catch our breath now and have
little routine for a spell, SO those
who are next on the list can go on
leave. I 20 within two weeks after
we can indulge in that luxury again.
! I am sure looking forward to see
| ing Paris. will have some prestige
in that city when l go. just having
come from the two great American
battles.
Also. of course, 1 hope to see Raj
ston and Ray McGrath. and per
haps Jack Sprowls and Ted Elder
and some other boys, including
CHUCK" Johnston, who has been
over here for year. l got letter
from Jack Sprowls the other day.
but don't know where he is sta
toned. 1t will be easy to ma him.
though, if / get loose for Whlie.
| Calls 1t Lots Of Fun.
| Don't worry about my safety. The
Hun bullet that was made for me
was shot. by mistake some time ago.
I'll come through o. X. and nave
lots of fun doing it. VINO Knows
Peace may be upon us before the
winter is out, but it is exceedingly
unlikely. The Hun will probably
stand one more winter of war, but
no more. surely. At least we all
hone so. Our tens of thousands are
still coming, and we, after all, Will
he the deciding element, and an ex'
ceedingly active one.
| am more than glad that l came
over as early as I did, because Amer
icans were comparatively scarce
then. and we saw lots of things and
had lots of experiences that are I'M
possible now. ,a
My training period was one long
10Y jaunt, and now the observers arc
mt through in a far different man.
nor and under conditions we would
have thought undesirable.
Uses First Typewriter in Alrplane.
I have had this Typewriter l am
now using up in the ship and nave
written and dropped messages from
lit I imagine the people VINO reao
the messages drop ike that oe'tei
NJ scrawl in a ship, with one eye
ont for the Boche, is not near as
good as my beautiful writing on the
Also the typewriter makes enough