Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-08-29


Of my boat and l had lost my lif
while on my way to England afte
having successfully outwitted tn
Huns. But my luck was with me Z
the last, and while the accident re
suited in some delay our boat was no
seriously damaged and made the tril
over in schedule time and without fur
Their accident, another destroyer hay
ing been assigned to escort Us through
the danger zone In place Of the on'
which had been put out Of commits
sion.
When I arrived in London, the re
action from the strain / had beer
under for nearly three months imme
diately became apparent. My nerves
were in such a state that It was ALSO
lutely impossible for me to cross the
street without being in deadly fear
Of being run over or trampled. stood
at the curb, Ike an old woman from
the country on her first visit to the
city, and 1 would not venture across
until some knowing policeman, recog-
nizing my condition, came to my as
S@SS~<--N anu NDLFOsCi A4C hN-NSN1s
Indeed, there was a great number Of
English officers at home at all times
getting back their nerves" after q
long spell of active service at the
front SO that my condition was any
thing but novel to the London bob
( bies.
1t was not many days. however, be-
{ fora o< I'D
/ felt in frst-class shape.
! Although the British authorities In
I Holland had wired my mother from
Holland that l was safe and on my
way to England, the first thing 1 did
when we landed was to send her a
cable myself
The cable read as follows:
Mrs. II. ]. O'Brien, Momence, IL, o.
s. A.
Just escaped from Germany, Let
ter follows"
AS / delivered it to the cable dis
patcher 1 could just imagine the ex-
ultation with which my mother would
receive it and the pride she would
feel as she exhibited it among her
At45uDO4o anu lEAeAuS.
1 could hear the volley Of II told
sou SOS" that greeted her good It'd
ings.
1T would take more than the kaiser
to keep Pat in Germany" could hear (
one Of them saying.
knew he'd be back for Christmas, I
anyway" 1 could hear another re- f.
mark.
Il had an idea that Pat aBa bis
comrades might spend Christmas ia
Berlin" 1 could hear another admit
ting, but / did not think any other
part of Germany would appeal to him
very much"
Mrs. OBrien. did Pat write you
how many German prisoners he
brought back With him?" could hear
still another eredHisss friend inquir-
ing.
1t was all very amusing aRd Syat-
flying to me and / must confess I teI
quite cocky as 1 walked into the war
to report
For the next five days Twas kept
very busy answering questions put to
me by the military authorities regard
ing what l had observed as TO condi-
tons in Germany and behind the lines.
What ] reported was taken down
Dy stenographer and made part Of
the official records, but 1 did not give
them my story Ia narrative form The
1 was able to give was
OF interest to various
branches of the service. and experts
n every line of government work took
{ in turns TO question me. One mora
ng would be devoted, for instance,
o answering questions of 8 military
methods behind the
ront line trenches, tactics, morale Of
roops and similar matters. Then the
Walton experts would take q whack
t me and discuss with me all l had
bserved of German flying corps .
Methods and equipment. Then. again, I
he food experts would interrogate ,
lie as TO what l had learned Of food {
ondiions in Germany, Luxembourg I
nd Belgium, and as had lived pretty 1
lose to the ground for the best part
{ Seventy-two days l was able to give l
lem some fairly accurate reports as T
, actual agricultural conditions, I
ANY of the things 1 told them prob a
bly, having more significance to them d
ian they had TO me. Z
There were many things had OBJ
rived which have not referred to in c
ese pages because their value to US q
light be diminished if the Germans "
new we were aware OF them, but
ey were all reported to the authori- q
rs and it was very gratifying 10 me
hear that the experts considered Il
me Of them Of the greatest value. W
One of the most amusing incidents u
my return occurred when I called at
y bankers in London to GET my per- u
nal effects. d,
The practice in the Royal Flying Ct
rps when a pilot is reported mis- HI
* is TO have two OF his comrades &c
signed to go through his belongings.
eek them over, destroy anything al