Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-17
Escadrille Spad 3s,
Secteur Postal IL,
July 16, 1918.

July 16, 1918.
Dear Mother:
1t sure is getting hot around here
now, and the sun is not the cause of
it all. either. Kaiser Bill has been
taking a hand in it, too, as you have
probably noticed from the papers.
| We were having such a good time
when he started in too, for you see
it was Fourth of July" night (the
| French one) and with six saXo-
phones and a singer, donated by an
American battalion nearby, we were
celebrating most enjoyably. I never
| knew how much music was in one of
those queer-shaped horns until these
artists brought it out. for they were
all of that, having made their living
| that way on the stage. They could
| play anything we named, and then
some, and play it with a snap and
vigor that won wild applause from
the French officers composing the
audience.
Our Commander Madon was
there. of course, and with all his
medals on at that. whose variety,
number and weight caused one of
| the American musicians to ask If his
| shoulder got lame carrying them
around. Far from expecting any
payment for their efforts these tai
ented American boys considered it
an honor to play before such a re-
nowned fighter, only requesting the
honor of shaking his hand as re-
ward. After they had played for
several hours and ended up with
both the French and American ma
tional hymns. Madon put on show
all his own by bringing in n small
caliber rifle and showing us some
shootingN that for accuracy, nerve
and steadiness we had never seen
equaled.
There was a French doctor there
and a captain at that, and he was
as drunk as a lord. Catching him in
an unguarded moment as he was
! leaning most of his enormous bulk on
his cane, Madon shot it (the cane)
out from under him. The crash that
followed shook the house, literally
as we'll as figuratively, for few per-
soss. indeed, had seen Madon bring
| in the gun, and the crack that her
aided the doctors fall came as some
surprise. Thereafter occurred shoot
! ing that had William Tell backed on
the boards. In place of an apple
was a tiny whisky glass. and the sec
ond after 1t rested on the bald target S
head it was splintered to tiny bits.
Cutting off the ash, the fire and
finally the cigaret from the smoker S
llips. was one of the tricks which lett
the Americans speechless with Won
der. But when he shot three small
| checkers from between a man
fingers in three successive shots, and
shot a hole through my cap as was
talking to the players, every blessed
American there wanted souvenir
and he wanted 1t shot from between
his fingers, too. Madon obligingly
did this, and then two OF the play
ers showed the Frenchmen what u
foxtrot is. Thus it was mldnlgnt
before we realized it. Not that tne
honr made any adherence, but just
then the Huns started TO celepFate
aIso-in their usual way-that OF
smashing something and opened up
a terrific artillery fire along the
whole front, from Rheims to the
Argonne.
This worried the Americans be-
cause they would be expected IN
camp at such a critical time. But
after they had listened to the STEADY
hollow boom of the guns for seVeral
minutes they decided there was no
more camp for them to go to, as 1t
was only some five miles back of the
lines, and went to Chalons. It was
indeed a beautiful sight to watch the
play of reflected color on the clouds
as French and Hun blazed away at
one another. AS for the noise, II
reminded me of a drummer practlc-
ing his music, so steady was it. From
what we could see and hear, we
could we'll imagine what hell tney
were making, and we began feeling
sorry for the men in the trenches
until a big Bertha broke near us with
a terrific bang. The old girl had our
range pretty well too, dropping sew
eral on our big landing field, and
since they were bursting on one side
of the field and we on the other, we
watched the shells fall at minute in
tervals anl slowly cross the held as
they did so.
Slept in Spite of Shells
But even this palled on us, for We
were so sleepy that shells or no shells
we went to bed. No sooner had we
stepped in our room than one landed
near our barracks with a roar and
conclusion that shook the house. 4
never did find out how close that
one came hut do know that while
we instinctively ducked, rocks and
graveL landed on the roof. That was
the closest one though, but they still
kept coming at regular intervals.
Nevertheless, we knew we Woold
have plenty of work the next morn
ing and sleep was absolutely neccs-
sary; but we had no sooner crawled
into bed than orders came to assem-
BILE in the commanders room for or
ders. 1t was then 2.30 a. m. and
orders were for every pilot to be-
ready to take the air at $50. We
could see no use in going to bed, so
spent our time in making some cof-
fee. That knocked us awake at
least even if we did feel rather all in.
Bad Day For Flying
The day broke very bad for flying,
clouds being as low as fifty meters
and lots of them, at that. Using an
other pilots machine and having
trouble starting it, was nearly last
off the ground. 1t was the same o'd
story. / chased around hunting the
chief of the patrol. but every ma
chine l caught Immediately landed,
and getting tired of this game of tag
I came down, too, for with such
weather there was little good we
could do. We had had orders the
day before to pack up ready to leave
on a moments notice, as the Boches
were expected to attack any cime
now, so we were all packed and
ready. Being so close to the lines
this was absolutely necessary, for I
have already told you how the ar