Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-01-21
NUMBER 3.

SIX of the Huns and were bearing the
brunt Of the fight. The contest seemed
to me to be so unequal that victory for
our men was hardly to be thought OF.
and yet at one time they so completely
outmaheuvered the Huns that 1
thought their superior skill might save
the day for them, despite the fact that
they were so hopelessly outnumbered.
One thing I was sure Of: they would
never give In.
OF course, 1t would have been a COM
paratively simple matter for our men,
when they saw how things were going
against them, to have turned their
noses down, landed behind the Ger.
man lines and given themselves up as
prisoners, but that is not the way OF
the r. F. G.
A battle of this kind seldom lasts
many minutes, although every second
seems like an hour to those who par
ticipate in 1t, and even OnloOkers suf-
fer more thrills In the course of the
struggle than they would ordinarily
experience in q lifetime. 1t Is appar-
ent even to a novice that the losers
fate Is death.
OF course, the Germans around the
hospital were all watching and roofing
for their comrades, but the English.
too, had one sympathizer in that group
who made no effort to stine his admira-
ton for the bravery his cOuntrymen
were displaying.
The end came suddenly. Four ma
chimes crashed to earth almost stimuli.
taneously. It was an even break-two
of theirs and two Of ours. The others
apparently returned to their respective
lines.
The wound In my mouth made 1t I'M
possible for me to speak. but by means
of a pencil and paper l requested one
Of the German officers to find out for
me who the English officers were who
had been shot down.
A little later he returned and handed
me photograph taken from the body
Of one of the victims. 1t was picture
of Paul Raney of Toronto, and myself,
taken together! Poor Raney! He was
the best friend I had and one Of the
best and gamest men who ever fought
In France.
It was he. I learned long after, who,
when / was reported missing, had
checked over all my belongings and
sent them back to England with
signed memorandum-which Is now in
my possession. Poor fellow, he little
realized then that but day or two
later he would be engaged In his last
heroic battle with me q helpless on
lookerl
The same German officer who
brought me the photograph also drew
a map for me Of the exact spot where
Raney was buried In Flanders. I
guarded 1t carefully all through my
subsequent adventures and finally
turned 1t over to his father and mother
when visited them in Toronto to per-
form the hardest and saddest duty
have ever been called upon to execute
to confirm to them In person the
tidIngs of poor Paul's death.
The other British pilot who fell was
also from my squadron and a man l
knew well-Lieutenant Keith Of Aus
tralia. I had given him picture Of
myself only few holifs before l start
ed on my own disastrous flight. He
was one of the star pilots Of our squad
ron and had been In many desperate
battle before, but this time the odds
were too great for him. He put up
wonderful fight and he gave as much
as he took.
The next two days passed without
incident and was then taken to the
intelligence department of the German
flying corps, which was located about
an hour from the hospital. There was
kept two days, during which time they
put q thousand and one questions to
me. While I was there turned over
to them the message | had written In
the hospital and asked them to have
one of their flyers drop II on our side
of the line.
They asked me where would like to
have 1t dropped, thinking perhaps
would give my airdrOme away, but
when I smiled and shook my head. they
did not insist upon an answer.
"I1l drop 1t over -" declared one
of them, naming my airdrome, which
revealed to me that their flying. corps
is as efficient us other branches of the
service In the matter Of obtaining valu'
able information.
And right here want to say that the
more came to know Of the enemy, the
more keenly realized what difficult
task we're going to have to lick him.
In all my subsequent experiences, the
fact that there Is heap Of fight left
in the Huns still was thoroughly
brought home to me. We shall win
the war eventually. If we don't slow
up too soon, in the mistaken idea that
the Huns are ready to lie down.
The flying officers who questioned
me were extremely anxious to find out
all they could about the part America
Is going to play in the war, but they
evidently came to the conclusion that
America hadn't taken me very deeply
into her confidence, judging from the
information they got, or failed to get
from me.
At any rate, they gave me up as q
bad Job, and I was ordered to the offi'
cers' prlson at Courtrai, Belgium.