The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-08-07


bomb might be dropped on the building
in which / 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 | had to
endure throughout the two weeks |
spent there wn8 the sight of the Hun
machines flying over Courtrai. know
ing that perhaps ! never would have
another chance to fly. and | used to sit
by the hour watching the German ma
chimes maneuverng over the prison,
as they had an airdrome not far away
and every afternoon the Students-or
| 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, II
seemed, ms If he knew an arman i'm
priSOnpd there was vainly longing to
try his wings again over their lines.
But | used to console myself by say
ding: "Nover mind, old boy. there was
never "A bird whose wings could not
be clipped If they get him just right,
and your turn will come some day"
one night there was an exception
ally heavy air raid going on. A num-
Der of German officers came into my
room, and they all seemed very much
frightened. | iokingly remarked that
II would be fine If our armen hit the
old priSnn-thc percentage would be
very Satisfnctory-one English officer
and about ten German ones. They
didn't seem to appreciate the joke.
however, and. indeed. they We're ap-
pnrently too much alarmed at what
WAS going on overhead to laugh even
at their own jokes. Although these
night raids seem to take all the starch
out of the Germans while they are
going on. the officers were usually as
brave aS lions the next day and spoke
contemptuously OF the raid of the
night before.
! saw thousands of soldiers in Cour-
trail. and although they did not i'm
press me as having very good or album
dant food. they were fairly well
clothed. Il do not mean to imply that
conditions pGIhieGto an 'tai--; -;-.iu. of
the war. On the contrary. from what
| was able To observe on that point.
unless the Huns have an absolute crop
failur" they can in my opinion, 90 on
for years The idea of our being able
to win tn" war by starving them out
strikes me as ridiculous. This is
war that must be won by fighting, and
the sooner we realize that fact the
sooner 1t will be over.
Rising hour in the prison was seven
O'Clock. Breakfast came ut eight. This
consisted of cup of coffee and MOTH
ing else. If the prisoner had the fore
sight to save some bread from the pre-
vious day, he had bread for breakfast
also, but that never happened In my
case. Sometimes We had two cups of
coffee, that is, near-Cotfee. 1t was
really chicory or some cereal prepara-
tlon. We had no milk or sugar.
For lunch they gave US boiled sugar
beets or some other vegetable, and
u
meat, but that happened very seldom.
We also received third of loaf Of
brcnd-war bread. This war bread
| was as heavy ms brick, black and
sour 1t was supposed to last us from
noon one day to noon the next. Ex-
cept for some soup, this was the whole
| lunch menu.
Dinner came at 3 80 D. m, when we
sometimes had little jam made out
of sugar beetS, and preparation
called tea, which YOU had to shake Wig
orOuSly or II settled In the bottom of
the cup, and then about all you had
was hot water. This tea" was n sad
blow to the Englishmen. If 1t hadn't
been called tea they wouldn't have felt
So badly about 1t, perhaps, but ii was
adding insult to injury To call that
stuff tea" which with them Is almost
n national institution.
Sometimes with this meal they gave
us butter instead of jam, and once in
Il while we had some kind of canned
meat.
This comprised the usual run of eat
ablCS for the day. can eat more than
that for breakfast In the days. that
were to come | learned that | was TO
fare considerably worse.
We We're allowed to send out and
buy n few things. but rs most of the
prisoners were without funds this was
but an empty privilege. Once ! took
advantage of the privilege to send my
shoes to a Belgian shoemaker to be
half-soled. They charged me 70
marks-S5!
Once In while a Belgian Ladies
Relief society visited the prison ana
brought us handkerchiefs, American
soap-whlch sells mt about Sl.5O a
bar In observation-disclosures and
other little articles, all of which were
American made, but whether they
were supplied by the American re-
lief committee or not l don't know.
At any rate, these gifts were mighty
useful and were very much appre-
ciated.
One day / offered button off my
uniform to one of these Belgian ladies