The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-08-24

PARENTS Mr.. and Mrs. p. G. Hayden
r. Keokuk, an interesting letter
dated July 81. part Of which is az
follows:
am in and part Of the war. Or
his day, that brings news Of the
great success of the French and
sn,ericans in that important counter
attack in the Chateau Thiery sector
write to say that have been over
The lines, over enemy territory, and
have four hours credited to me, "over
the lines.
have been shot at by arches and
have seen Boche plane in the all
mite a way off, who did not attemp,
70 bother uss / have had bombs
dropped within half mile OF me al
night and have looked straight up al
night and tried to see the Boche
plane whose presence was made Ger
tain by the ominous roar OF two deep
throated Mercedes engines.
Every time have been over, three
in all, have let the German trenches
have a magazine full of machine gun
sort of visiting card. | have taken
pictures twice of the German posi-
tons and have made one reconnais-
sance. There is not much doing in
this sector, and the Huns keep pretty
ouiet in the day time, but If there
did happen to be anything doing we
would know 1t. The Ninetieth watch
es "our sector" like a hawk, and, to
quote, Negative reports are often
as important as positive ones" On
Ali our work now we have protection
. by the second pursuit group, two or
three of their planes staying with us
| while we do our work.
The arches are queer things. The
Huns use shells that explode with
black smoke. When one Is well
over the lines, the black puffs begin
to appear off to one side, or over the
tail. Unless they are within one
hundred meters, they can't be heard,
but when they get inside OF that they
burst with a crack. l was taking
row Of pictures OF the lines and the
whole time they were Smelling us.
There must have been two hundred
bursts in all. Most OF them were way
of in DETECTION. but fair In range.
Aside from their shells, the work
Is q great deal like training practice.
except that 1t Is great deal more
exciting when you know that a well
carried out mission means more than
q good grade. Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday Of this week made three
trips The first was a reconnais-
sance mission and the second two
we're Photographic. All three were
satisfactory.
Like College Life.
Life with the squadron is more |
like college life than anything have
found before or since. Instead OF !
classes and studying lessons, we have /
missions and studying the sector.
The mess is like fraternity dining !
system. Wednesday night we had a |
party and had about ten girls over
from (deleted) for dinner. We had !
flowers on the tables and few extra !
eats, and sang at the end of the meal
and danced afterward. The whole
thing was like an informal party at
college. That is the second social
function the squadron has had inside
Of a week. o, it's a great life!
though. Wednesday, just as l came
down, the major in command of the
group drove out on the field with a
pretty girl in the car. They came
right behind the machine before we
we're out. stopped a minute and drove
on to another part of the field. Later
the major took her up. 1 heard later
It was Marjorie McMein, Neysa, you
know, who was a neighbor kid in
quincy and now noted artist and
war nurse. She was gone then clear
out OF the neighborhood, and l did
not get chance to speak to her.
Wednesday night she gave a talk to
the boys in the Red Cross tent,
sort OF chalk talk, / guess, but | did
not go, not knowing who it was.
was pretty much put out when l
found that she had been right in this
camp and ] didn't know who 1t was.
He Files the Ship.
Friday, after we had our pictures,
inc pilot asked me If I wanted to
AXE the stick awhile. Sure. l said
50 / put my stick in and flew the
snip awhile. We were away up, so
y was safe enough. The thing flies
easy enough. and the trick is to land ,
properly. Well, flew it for awhile
and then put up the stick again and
ne took her in.
we did not go direct to our field,
put landed on the field Of the second
pursuit group just to talk to the fell
lows and get acquainted. as we will
work with them right along. They
al. about twelve miles from us, on
me edge of fair sized town. We
landed and talked to some Of the
plots who were out on the field, and
a1s adjutant, who came out to say ,
Hello" y
while we were there one OF the
"a snips came down from chase over
!. germany of twenty kilometers, where
n ne had dropped Boche. Putnam was +.
Ills name. and he is good. NJ aJ6-- =
NAV is also with that outfit, We +,
stayed about half an hour. then took .
VII and came home. ran the ship E
little on the way home.
Inc Responsibilities Of Officers.
All parts of the country are rep q
!. .sssented in the squadron. There are =
a,poht thirty-seven officers, pilots and !.
1rvyseryers, and all are good fellows. :
me G. n SC M nd "a