The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-08-06

Nit' '4' I'l lt'' ~, I'lt' Wv lt't llth'
they were so hopcI"ssly "utnumh"r'd.
One thing was sure Of: they would
never Civ" in.
OF course, II would have been Il com
parativ"iy simple matter for our men,
when they saw how things We're going
against them. to have turned their
noses down, landed behind the Ger
man lines and given themselves up as
prisoners, but that * not the way of
the X. +. &.
A battle of this Kind seldom lasts
many minutes, although every second
seems Tx" an hour To those who par
ticipute In 1t, 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 ii 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 stihe his admira
tion for the bravery his countrymen
were displaying.
The end came suddenly. Four ma
chimes crashed to earth almost stimuli
tunpously. 1t was an even brcak-tWo
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 means
of a pencil and paper l requested one
of the German officers to find out for
me who the English officers were who
had been Shot down.
A littl" later he returned and handed
me photograph taken from the body
Of one Of the victims. II was picture
of Paul Raney Of Toronto. and myself,
taken together. Poor Raney, He was
| the best friend l had and one of the
best and earnest men who ever fought
/ In France.
II was he. | learned long after. who,
when / was reported missing had
/ checked over all my belongings and
/ sent them back to England with II
/ signed memorandum-which Is now In
! my possession. Poor fellow, he it'll"
realized then that but u day or two
/ later he would b" engaged in his last
. heroic battle with me helpless on
locker.
The same German officer who
brought me the photograph also drew
II map for me Of the exact spot where
R2ncy was buried in Flanders. |
,rt,ur,l,I IL c,r,f,,Il,- oil +br,,,,,b ,,,,.
subsequent adventures and finally
turned it over to his father and mother
when | visited them in Toronto to per
form tn" hardest and Sadd"St duty
have ever been called upon to execute
to confirm to them in person the
tidingS of poor Paul's death.
The other British pilot who fell was
also from my squadron and IA man
knew wcll-Iieutcnant Keith of Aus
tralia. ! had given him n picture Of
myself only IL few hours before | start
ed on my own disastrous flight. He
was one of the star pilots of our squad
ron and had been In many II desperate
battle before. but this time the odds
were too great for him. He put up
wonderful fight and he gave as much
aS he took.
The next two days passed without
incident and | was then taken to the
intelligence department of the German
flying corps, which was located about
an hour from the hospital. There | was
kept two days. during which time they
put thousand and one questions to
ME. While / was there | turned over
to them the message | had written in
the hospital and asked them to have
one of their flyers drop it on our side
of the line.
They asked me where would like to
have 1t dropped thinking perhaps l
would give my nirdrome away, but
when smiled and shook my head, they
did not insist upon an answer.
TO be Continued)