Daily Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1918-191?, 1918-08-11
Aviator, Stranded in No Mans
Lane, Faces Fire Of
Friend and Foe.
WAVED SIGNAL TO FRENCH
BY Fast Running sergesn, Bauahar,
Reaches Comrades IN ssfe,y-Is
Rewarded With Military Med
al by the French.


driile To the Paris Air Defense sqund.
ron, has been reported prisoner in
unofficial ndvices To- his mother. Mrs.
Mary a. Bnughnm. president 81 tho
Dixie Agricultural company ~ Wash.
incton. Sergeant Raughan iuinrd tho
Lafayette escadrille In 1917 when ha
was eighteen years old aud won thu
Military medal. the highest French
honor to noncommissioned men.
The incident that earned the ser,
geant the medal was described IN lot.
ter he wrote recently. Paying tribute
tn the wonderful spirit of his French
comrades. Sergeant Baugham said:
"We had been sen; out 20 patrol
back ~ the German lines and 10 nt.
tack anything enemy we saw. Having
inccndiary balls In my gun. WIS pre-
pared 10 attack German sausage
or observatory balloon. Just as | wus
beginning the descent TO atinck. ! saw
a Boche alrplane going In the direction
Of our lines "a do Photographic work.
j put on fun speed and signuled to the
other planes 60 follow. They evident.
~ did not see my signal. for they
didn't 90 down with me. When got
100 meters from the Buche | started
firing. The enrm% repiled 10y turning
loose both guns at me. | must have
got him. however. with the first blast.
for when pulled up TO make another
dive De- was SILENT
Then something happened that
would make the coolest man on earth
cu,s. and as ! am not one Of the best. I
you can Imagine that ! let little un- I
said. Ny motor stopped absolutely .
dead There was only one thing for mo
to De- and that was to dive. lose tho .
Boche aud try 10 volplane to the .
French lines. As | went past the Ger
man machine Il Immediately came
down and. putting some nice steel very .
close 10 him. did an the acrohacy |
hud ever learned. When had finished
! found that | had come down from
l0OO to 1000 feet and there was no
Bochc In sight
Alone In No Mans Land.
II then looked around Tor a place to
land. ! saw a fairly good place on 10
the right aud made II. ! then stepped
out OF the machine-rleht ON the fnce {
OF a dead German. II took me a min
ute 90 realize what WIS happening aud
I invoke to the sound OF bullets whiz-
zing past my head. That didn't disturb
me much. because I was wondering
why somebody hadn't buried the Ger
man. Looking around. however, all |
could see was dead Germans. II sud
denly dawnod dn me that was In No
Mans Land or all the places there
are To land In France aud Germany /
had 10 land between the two.
Then realized what predicament
l was Ia and began 10 think up some
way to get out Of II. The thought came
to me that II was nearer the German
lines than 10 the French. I had better
get rid 81 those incendiary balls In my
pocket. for n the Germans catch you
with them you are shot az once.
climbed back into my machine to the
tune Of bullets aud took out load OF
over 3na cartridges. threw them ON the
ground aud then removed my compass
and nliim,ter.
"'rhe first thing | struck was grave.
unfinished. with two of the enemy In
a.. | eascd myself down into IL. lifted
up one of the Germans aud put the
cartridges beneath him started
walking back 90 my mnchlne As |
got near ID the Bochs lines started
their mltrlilleurs and rifles az me. and
the French. unaware that was one of
them. also oprned mp ! had Ia walk
500 feet between IT, lines and Il was
mo- ioke Will. pll that fire concentrated
IA my direction. One bullet passed SEA
clas,. tu my fnce that | really felt the
wind. | decided that I'd have 20 go 10
one iof the lines. enemy or friend. but
Just then | heard machine overhead.
I looked NJ and saw white puts break
ing out all around II.
slsnaIed With handkerchief
"On the way the nrl got so hot I
had 90 fall face down. AMI didn't
move for, guess. five minutes. There
being no good reason for my being
shot like a dog, yanked out my hand
kerchicf and waved Il AZ the French
lines.
"They finally got H. after ten min
utes OF waving. and saw French
onircr heckoniug me from bit of
woods. II there ever has been a faster
5Oyard sprint ! never heard OF II. | N
ran sn fast that ran right into the
officer. and very nearly knocked his re-
volyer ont Of his hand | showed him
my Identification Ord and then started
cursing him for shooting az me. He
had been taking potshots al me out
there. tie apoloeized. saying that he
cauld only see my head because his
position was slightly lower than No
Mans Land
'"rhey took me M 10 the divisional
general, ana r'ported that had seen
more than 100 dead Germans and only
two frenehmen. II made HIN 80 happy
that he gave me- dinrer anh e'aplI
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