The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-09-17

L
was head on, and I fred my last thirty
rounds and pulled up with bullets 60
ing by me like hail. Then / looked,
and there was the leader diving on his
back, and he was hanging half out OF
his machine. He was evidently himself
hit. The others reported that he hung
as if dead
81 turned, desperate, with no more
shots, and saw my companions coming |
after the three enemy aircraft, Who'll
were making off in wide circles, and
the other two Huns We're just in sight,
The French bomber was crossing the
lines safely. Three of us had been at
| tackled hy twelve planes and had shot
| four into flames and two completely
| out of control, and one shot with an en-
CINE out of control, and we--lncludln9
our bombef-were still there.
Odds: Twelve enemy aircraft to
| three Allies.
/ Score: Seven Huns down Allies,
none down.
1 We had gone quite a ways back
east, and my engine went bad again
| and kept getting worse. The other two,
typical British soldiers, stayed with me.
above, until near the lines, when my
engine cut out altogether and | was
getting all the anti-aircraft and ma
chine gun fire from the newly estab
lished enemy lines, and they could not
give me any help. | saw | couldn t
, make our lines, as they were in deep
wood, so I dove onto some troops
(Huns) coming up behind their lines.
Having fixed my other gun after the
fight, ! scattered them amid a hail of
/. machine gun bullets.
/, "Then | landed in a sloping depres-
sion near a wood, about an eighth of a
nile beyond the enemy outposts, III a
! wheatfield about 100 yards from some
d thick trees that were being swept by
enemy machine guns. The enemy out
posts couldn t see anything but ths
: top wings of my machine, but they be
s gan to shell it. so | tore out the roun(
d iron compass and maps and tried Il
10 burn the machine with the maps but
only set the wheat afre.
s'Shells were getting close, so
Z crawled for the wood. came to
It small water-filled ravine, and there
As lost my heart and was sure ] was afte
i. all in the German lines, for there-o
r. crawling my wav. | was unarmed, bu
ID remembered my compass, SO | haule
I'd it back as if to throw it. Two of thei
~ jumped and ran, one falling, hit b
ge his own fire. The third yelled. Kan,
%. rad and threw down his rifle, | got |
lit that rife and then took his pistol an
IL ordered him to crawl ahead. He locke
startled when | spoke English. and
ia good English answered and begged II
us to kill him, as he was married ma
us | told him to shut up and crawl on, al
sul if he did not try to run he would
nd unframed
raj We got to the wood of thick brai
tlv bles, which was swept by machine gu
me and shells. In the middle of the wot
un there was a stream about five feet wi
and four feet deep As we came to
me we heard whispered groan in Frenc
ep. SO | erawled up a few yards and the
NV lay French colonial, hit in the leg a
fix neck II
lad The Hun rrisner followed me, a
in without a word started to give the m
a drink ont qf his canteen, but | to
ne the canteen. washed il out. and th
vas gave the African a drink and wash
of his wounds 50 he could move | pick
lew him mp, and ordered the German
md wade across with his hands mp
1ir- this whispered. He did, and drew
mo fire, and then | went Some Germ
me. snipers took three shots at me. but II
was only splashed about me. The brush v
aad very thick on the opposite bank. am
,eet had to drag the French colonial-w
ant the German elping-through the thi
ain ct. Then, suddenly. we were fred
owe and then challenged in French. |
on piled in very bad French: Officer \
cot itaire aux blesse Colonial Avia
me American.-ahou all the French
,uz knew. Then a string of French Ga
and back, and I repeated: Advance. tt
odd the German said: They say crawl
the TO the open with your hands up
, TO did. Then two men and Free
officer came to me. He bristled at
this Hun, but | pointed to my gun and
cir wounded colonial, and the colon
ing. talked fast-whereupon the Fren
'hev man threw his arms about me
tazv talked a lot
two We crawled to the outpost. an
vent helped the wounded colonial to a DIR
hen ing station that was also being shell
5 of the Hun acting as assistant and in
mn prefer, as he also spoke good French.
As said he had been in England and
rned United States. He gave me a lot
him valuable information, and | took
hots back to Division Headquarters. A
mes time | succeeded in getting to
ping phone, ana reported by phone to
commander. =