The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-08-15

II. F. G. IL allowed to hunt the Huns
on the western front.
sTMs wes In Msys. ro17. GF~s.s,ggs, A
By August 4, most OF ~ wtre full.
fledeed pilots, ctively enSaked ativari.s
Gus parts Of the line In daily conflict
with the enemy.
by pecembef 16 every man Jack Of
uS Who had met the' enemy nsFrAnte!
with one exception. had appeared on
the, casualty lIst, ,ThA exception, was
IH TX. B6yseh. sni Amefica1 kajd. d
last report was fighting on the Italian
front still unscathed. Whether his
kddd f9itpe has tsood Afrh pp' "a thiS
ttime don't know, but II II Has would
be very, much surprised. a.
L Of,the others i've were Killed in it3
t16h-three Americans. one Canadian,
and one Englishman. Three more were
in al probability killed in action al,
though officially they are listed merely
as missing" One Of these was an
American, one. q Capa dian.. Snd fthe 4
thitd laf Scotchrhhn. Three inhres two.
of them Americans, were seriously
wounded. Another, canadian, tsa
psi39net 10 Germany I know ecthihs
wha. happened. to me, u, narrated in
these pages, Wish. iAstSld, l. could
ften thestoF 81 epeh bfhybravseoin.
4 frades. for not one or them Vas d6whed,
I am sure, without upholding the best
traditions Of the II. F. G. Unfortunate
ly. however, Of the eighteen who,
sailed on the Meganic last May, l
happened to be the FIRST to fall into
the hands Of the Huns. and what befell
my comrades after that, with one ex-
lception,,I know only second hand.
The exception was the case Of poor,
brave Paul Raney-my closest chum-
whose last battle witnessed from my
German prison-but that is story !
shall tell In Its proper place.
Il " In one way. however, I think the
story Of my own "big adventure" and
| my miraculous escape may. perhaps.
serve purpose as useful as that OF
the heroic fate of my less fortunate
comrades. Their story, II Is true. might
inspire others to deeds, ct shelptsns
but mine, hope. will convey the
Z equally valuable lesson Of the folly
of despaif.y Siiy 'f.s n
Many were the timesyip the course
of my struggles when Il. seemed -abso-
I5luneiyshbeiess to continue. In hostile
} country. where discovery meant death.
!. lwonnded, sick, famished, friendless.
} hundreds of miles from the nearest
neutral territory the frontier of which
/ was 30 closely guarded that even II I
, tgot there It sesn.ed too much to hope
, that i could, ever get through. what
Twas the use of endufIng further
/ agony7'ts .Tis str a.
4 And yet here am. In tie land of
liberty-although In a somewhat OBJ
! scure corner Of io-the little town of
Mordence. ILL.,. where WIS borp-eppt
livery y,nuch the worse for wear after all
I've been through, and. as write these
words not eight months have passed
since my seventeen comrades and,
sailed from Canada on the Meganic.
Can 1t be possible that I Was spared
4 to convey a message Of, hope, to. others
/, who are destined for similar trialsf
y am afraid there will be many OF them.
I Years ago I heard of the epitaph
D. which ~ SAID to have been found on q
"If was so soon to be done for
Il What o Lord. was ever begun forT
The way It has come to me since
|, kreturned from Europe Is: ~
"If, o Lord. I was to be done for
What were my sufferings e'er begun
forT
Perhaps the answer lies in the sug
gestion haye,made. &;s~s,s.
At any rate. II this record Of nay I'd
ventures should proye instrumeutat II
sustaining others who need encourage
msnt. shall ifesl that my suffering
were not In vain.
1t Is hardly likely that anyone will
quite duplicate my experiences. but
haven't the Slightest dSSbt that man!
will have to 60 through trials equal!
nerve-racking and suffer disappoint
ments just as disheartening.
It would be very far from the mari
to imagihe that the optimism which
am preaching now 30 giibly sustaine,
me through all my troubles. On tn,
Il contrary I am free to. confess that
Frequently gave way to despair ant
often, for hours at a time. felt no de
jected and discouraged that reall,
didn't care what happeDed 70 me, 70
deed. rather hoped that something
would happen to put an end to M
misery 4 DiIFy DfiE bA.bS
But despite all my dependency ant
hdpeleSsnsssJ the worst newer hap
pened, and ! can't, help thinking tha
mytsaNation must lhare been designe,
to show the way to others.