The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-06-25

They told me of the man had brought
down. They said he was Bavarian
| and fairly good pilot. They gave me
! his hat as il souvenir and compliment
ed me on the fight had put up.
| My helmet. Which was of soft
! leather. was spill, from front to back
| by bullet from machine gun, and
| they examined it with great interest
| When they brought me my uniform
| found that the. star of my rank which
| had been on my right shoulder strap
had been shot off clean. The one on
my left shoulder strap they asked me
for as a souvenir. as also my X. F. c.
badges. which gave them. They al
lowed me to keep my "wings." which
wore on my left breast. because they
were aware that that Is the prOudest
possession OF British flying officer.
think am right in saying that the
only chivalry In this war on the Ger
man side Of the trenches has been dis
played by the officers of the German
flying corps. which comprises the pick
Of Germany. They pointed out to me
that and my comrades were fightin"
purely for the love OF it. whereas they
were fighting In defense OF their cOun
try. but still, they said they admired
US for our sportsma nship. I had u no.
ton to ask them II dropping bombs on
London and killing so many innocent
people was In defense Of their country.
but was in no position or condition
to pick quarrel ut that time.
That same day German officer was
brought into the hospital and put In
the bunk next to mine. OF course
pay particular attention to him at that
time. He lay there for three or four
hours before I did take real good
look at him. l, was positive that he
could not speak English, and naturally
did not say anything to him. Once
when looked over in his direction his
eyes were on me, and to my surprise
he said. very sarcastically, "What the
HI are you looking at" and then
smiled. At this time was just be-
ginning to say few words. as my
wound had prevented me from talking.
but l said enough to let him know
what l was doing there and how
happened to be there. He evidently
had heard my story from some Of the
Others though. because he said it was
too bad l had not broken my neck
that he did not have much sympathy
with the flying corps anyway. He
asked me what part Of America came
from. and told him california"
After few more questions he
learned that hailed from San Fran
cisco. and then added to my distress
by saying. "How would you like to
have a good. juicy steak right out Of
the Hofbrau?' Naturally told him
it would hit the spot" but hardly
thought my mouth was In shape just |
then to eat 1t. I Immediately asked.
Of course. what he knew about the
Hofbrau. and he replied. II was con-
nected with the place 40 good many |
years, and l ought to know all about |
it."
After that this German officer and !
I became rather chummy; that is, AZ
far as I could be chummy with an |
enemy. and we whiled away a good !
many long hours talking about the
days we had spent in San Francisco,
and frequently in the conversation one
Of US would mention some prominent !
or some little incident Oc-
curing there, with which we were
both familiar.
He told me when war was declared
he waS. Of course. intensely patriotic
and thought the only thing for him to
do was to go back and aid In the de-
Tense of his country. He found that
he could not go directly from San
because the water was too
we'll guarded by the English, so he
boarded a boat for South America.
There he obtained a forged passport
and In the guise of Montevidean took
passage for New York and from there
to England. !;
He passed through England without
any difficulty on his forged passport,
but concluded not to risk going to Hol-
land for fear Of exciting too much sus-
picion, 80 went down through the
Strait Of Gibraltar to Italy. which was
neutral at that time, up to Austria.
md thence to Germany. He said when
they put in at Gibraltar, after leaving
England. there were two suspects
taken off the Ship men that he was
sure were neutral subjects. but much
to his relief his own passport and Gre
lentials were examined and passed
K.
The HNn spoke Of his voyage from
to England as being excep-
:ionally pleasant, and said he hid a
inc time, because he associated with
he English passengers on board, his
1uent English readily admitting him
o several spirited arguments on the
subject of the war, which he keenly ,
enjoyed One little incident he related I
'eyealed the remarkable tact which $
,ur enemy displayed in his associa-
ions at sea, which no doubt resulted !
for him. AS he ey- {