Rockingham post-dispatch., 1918-12-19
October 2Sth, 1918.
Dearest Father;

Dearest Father:
At present really have not time to
write you fully of my doings of the
past few days. l can only give you a
brief outline. Grace's sweet letter
telling me that you all know how hard
it is for fellow to be held back at
aviation instruction work when there
is so much to be done at the front,
came just too late. got 1t on my
return here. She hit the nail on the
head exactly. 1t is hard to stay back
here and instruct. especially while
Percy is up there in the thick of the
fight. It got working on me and l
could not stand It any longer. l got
the idea In my head that trip to
the front and chance to take a crack
at the Boche was due me. l did not
leave a stone unturned to get legiti-
mate permission to 60. saw Cap
tains, Majors, and Colonels In my at
tempt to get a pass. My endeavors
in that line ended with 1t. Colonel
Bingham who finally dismissed me by
saying that If / went to the front he
would see that was sent back to the
a setback but felt that had right
ON my side, and decided to attempt it.
get seven days rest leave, due
me for some time, for Cannes (near
Niee). Armed with this went to
Paris, where l saw sister Alice. She
tried TO get my "idea" out OF my head,
but she was 80 anxious to hear first
hand from Percy. that she did not
have her heart in her efforts to keep
me back.
had wonderful luck. Everything
broke my way. Heaven was clearly
with me. At 8 p. m. October 20. l
walked itno little shack and found
Per. with several others crouching
over a little stove. He was connect
ed with the 18bth Aero Sd. (night-fy-
ing chasse). They are the widest of
the wild. Chase planes at night.
stayed up all night to watch them
work. Per. left the ground at mid
night. OF he shot into the black dark.
ness of the north. Even the roar of
his motor was soon lost in the dis.
tant rumble OF the guns. The glow OF
their flashes was quite distinct. We
all went back to the 1S5th H. @. tent
to await his return. There were per.
haps seven Of us in the group. Capt.
Low, the squadron commander, the ad-
jutant, the lieutenant in charge Of the
guns and offensive equipment of the
planes, and several pilots. Half an
hour passed. We talked gaily on va
rious subjects of interest in connec-
tion with the sQuadron's work. An
hour passed. The conversation had
died down. Am were listening for the
distant hum of Per.'s Monosapap mo-
tor. At 1:10 all was quiet. He had
gas for 1880. He was due back. No
one spoke. All were under a ner-
vous strain. A forced landing for
Per. meant a certain crash. Forced
landings in that section are almost
impossible in the daytime. At last
someone said There he Isl" "Ehush,"
Listen" Sure enough. we could hear
the faintest HMM OF a motor. Ths
plane came on with surprising speed.
A moment later he was over our
heads. He cut his motor and glided
through the searchlight shaft to show
US where he was. He glided down
and soon the green rocket went up to
show him that all was well. He did
not light the flares on his wing tips,
but landed by the light of the gas
torches on the ground.
Mighty pretty work. Per. is q dine
flyer and has all the grit and sand
In the world. 1t really takes nerve
to fly in that squadron. There are
eight flyers in all, believe.
The next morning at 1880 set out
in charge Of q truck. big Packard,
and ten men. had instructions to
20 to mo Mans Land" or as near
there as possible with the truck, and
bring in en- armored German plane
that had fallen there. BY the map
the location OF the plane looked to be
very close to the town of c.. We
had passed our heavy artillery and
also our light. No wagons or cars on
the road now. Only q few scattered
doughboys carrying up big cans of
soup to the front lines just ahead. We
went too far. The Germans were
about 900 yards ahead on the hill
crest. They must have seen US in the
dusk as we were about to enter the
town. The shells had been falling
several (2) hundred yards away when
suddenly blam-m-m-m! A shell burst
on q house Just In front. Bz-bz-bE-
blam-m-m.m another burst just to our
left. throwing up big shower of mud
and dirt. Bz-bz-bz-sphlop! A "dud"
hit Just to our right and did not ex-
paode. told the fellows to scatter
and make for the woods a quarter mile
to our rear. We got the truck turned
around without getting hit. When In
the open space between the town and
the woods an officer hailed us In the
dusk. What the h. are you doing
up here with q truck?" It was Irving
Crnwal1i "a nAxt Aonr naighh0rl II