Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-05-14
|DECORAHIAN SEES
AVIAT0RS KILLED
Gavin Hjerleid Writes an Interesting
Letter to His Sister, Mrs. Geo.
johnson. Tells About Aero
plane Accidents
WILL BE REVIEWED
BY GEN. PERSHING
Expects to Get Home Some Time I'm
June. Says He Is Anxious to
Get Into Civilian Clothes
Again
Toul, France,


Toul, France,
April 10th, 1919.
Ny Dearest Sister, Geo. and All:
l am this week taking the place
Of two men on the Mess part of it as
one has taken the same kind Of
pass as 1 did, so you can believe I
have been a very busy body. Altho I
have it now we'll in hand and am
glad to say things are going in good
shape. OF course the Surg. Genl. had
to blow in and audit the books the
first day of this week, but he found
things up and cash to the centime.
A very big man folks as he is Surg.
General of the A. E. F.
l have received letters from Ray
mond who is all o. X, also fathers.
I cannot wait until I get home, as
am anxious to get at something
worth while, as this life is getting to
get wee bit bad. You see it has been
one year now in this Uncle's army,
and you cannot blame one for getting
that way, can you?
Well Friday we are to be taken
over to the aviation field where our
/ Gen. John Pershing will take
slant at us and see if our buttons are
all on, together with our shoes
! tshined up a bit am just as anxious
/ to see him as he is me, but when
! do put my lights on him I'll simply
say howdy John. Will tell you of the
event in my next letter to you or the
folks.
Must tell you of the terrible
things that have occurred here the
past three days, at the aviation field.
The first thing that took place was, a
Lieutenant while walking across the
i field with four others was killed by
plane just as it was ready to light
! He did not see it in time OF course
! so seeing it was too late he laid fat
but the tail of it hit him in the head.
/ You see they come on and off the
; field at 20 miles per. Well no more
than an hour after a two seated
Liberty went up and whilesonly 200
feet from the ground the motor stop-
ped and down they come, killing the
driver whose name was Hartman and
the other is in the hospital nearly
all in.
This man Hartman who was killed
was the winner of that dog race you
read so much about from Winnepeg
to st. Paul. Do you remember? He
was a we'll built fellow, but folks I
never have seen human body crush
ed the way that one was. happened
to see all these fellows come in as
the receiving ward is across from our
Office. He had lots of pictures OF
girls and himself, one'with his dogs,
and when I saw this it put crimp
into me for the aviation stuff.
Yesterday while they were
preaching the sermon for these fell
lows at the grave yard here come 5
planes to drop flowers on the graves
of their pals, so while doing this they
rof course flew very low, nearly
touching the trees. Well one had
missed getting his flowers on the
grave so he circled again, but some
how made too short turn and mind
you he ran smack into another plane
who was just going to throw his
flowers. Well my heart was in my
mouth of course and all l saw was
bang, one catching on fire at once,
and the other all in. splinters. We
ran over to where the one was burn
ing, but it was too late, as he was
burnt to crisp and certainly looked
terrible. The other plane was all
smashed and the driver was killed
instantly of course. Remember this
happened when they were preaching
the sermon Talk about people?
Well I saw them drag the other one
out of his plane and folks, not a
bone in his whole body was sound,
and the looks of it cannot be ex-
planned. I found out later that the
one that was killed yesterday was
: the man who ran into this fellow
that was walking across the field,
killing him. And he was throwing
flowers on his Buddie's grave when
he was killed. Do you get tie story?
Well I'll never forget when they hit
and what a sight it was, as they
were coming at the rate of 100 miles
anyway. I took my camera and got
some pictures of it when it happened.
Will send some, if good
From the way things look we will
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