New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-08-16
Photograph of Official Memorandum, Giving a n Inventory of the Personal
Belongings Of Lieutenant O'Brien, Which Were Turned Over to Lieu.
tenant Raney When o'erien Was Reported Missing on August Il. 1917.

~
eported Missing on August II, 1917.
could speak all languages. One O
them was a mere boy who had beer
born In Jersey City. N. j., and hat
spent all his life in America unit
the beginning Of 1914. Then he moved
with his folks to Germany, and wher
he became of military age the Hun.
forced him into the army. l think II
the truth were known he would mucf
rather have been fighting for America
than against her.
l found that most of the prisoners
remained at Courtrai only two OF
three days. From there they were in
variably taken to prisons in the inte-
rior Of Germany.
Whether it was because I was an
American or because l was q flyer, ]
don't know. but this rule was not fol.
lowed in my case. I remained there
two weeks.
During this period COurtrai was con
stantly bombed by our airmen. Not a
single day or night passed without one
or more air raids. In the two weeks
l was there l counted q of them. The
town suffered a great deal of damage.
Evidently our people were aware that
the Germans had a lot of troops con-
centrated in this town and besides the
headquarters staff was stationed there.
The kaiser himself visited Courtrai
while I was in the prison, l was told by
n of the interpreters, but he didn't
call on me, and for obvious reasons l
couldn't call on him.
The courtyard was not n very popu-
lar place during air raids. Several
times when u airmen raided that
section in the day time l went out and
watched the machines and the shrap-
mel bursting all around; but the Ger
mans did not crowd out there, for their
W antiaircraft guns were hammer
ing away to keep our planes as high
in the sky as possible, and shells were
likely to fall in the prison yard any
moment. OF course l watched these
battles ut my W risk. Many nights
from my prison window l. watched
with peculiar interest the air raids
carried on, and 1t was a wonderful
sight with the German searchlights
playing On the sky, the Flaming on
ions" fired high and the burst of the
antiaircraft guns, but rather an I'M
comfortable sensation when I realized
that perhaps the very next minute a
bomb might be dropped on the building
in which l was a prisoner. But per.
haps all of this was better than no
excitement at all, for prison life soon
became very mOnOtonOus.
One Of the hardest things 1 had to
endure throughout the two weeks l
spent there was the sight Of the Hun
machines flying over Courtrai, know.
ing that perhaps l never would have
another chance to fly. and l used to sit
by the hour watching the German ma.
chimes maneuvering over the prison,
as they had an alrdrOme not far away
and every afternoon the students-or
l took them for students because their |
flying was very pOOr-appeared over
the town. One certain Hun seemed to |
find particular satisfaction in flying
right down over the prison nightly, for
my special discomfort and benefit, 1t
seemed. as If he knew an airman i'm
prisoned there was vainly longing to
try his wings again Over their lines.
But l used to console myself by say
lng: "Never mind, old boy, there was
never a bird whose wings could not
De clipped If they get him Just right,
md your turn will come some day."
One night there was an exception
lily heavy air raid going on. A num-
yer of German officers came into my
DOM, and they all seemed very much
1 jokingly remarked that
t would be fine II our airmen hit the
Id prison-the percentage would be
'ery satisfactory-one English officer,
md about ten German ones. They
lidn't seem to appreciate the Joke,
lowever. and. indeed, they were ap-
'arently too much alarmed at what
vas going on overhead to laugh even
t their own jokes. Although these
light raids seem to take all the starch
ut Of the Germans while they are