The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-03

New York, Jan. .s-"The Luckiest
Man In the war"
The luckiest not from the viewpoint
OF the man who got his thrills from
newspaper; not the luckiest. even, In
the opinion OF the doughboy. or the
| sailor who ked his neck on the seas
or under them. but the luckiest on the
testimony Of the luckiest bunch of
lighters that ever faced the Hun-the
combat avjators of the allies. whether
British Italian or American, which.
.ne might admit. IL ~sopae luck"
! The luckiest man is Lieutenant Waldo
| n. Heinriche. late OF the Ninety-ffth
| souadrons to take the air against the
Germans. who has recently arrived
from France after two months In a
prison hospital At Meth. He was In
the same nght In which Lieutenant
Quentin Roosevelt wac killed. and his
own roommate, Lieutenant William Fl.
Taylor. son OF W. II. Taylor, OF the
Hotei Ansonia, this city. was killed
the cay after Heinrichs was shot down.
| Accidents ltey~iSeA.
| Here are some OF the things that hap
pened to Heinrichs:
Dodged spiinters from propeller
which was torn completely OF whe n
he was flying at full speed at height
of 1900 feet. landing without a scratch.
Fell a mile In plane from which most
OF top wing had been stripped in COL
lision with Hun he was hghting, but
landed right side UP.
| Turned a double somersault In ma
chine which was blown into ditch SIS
he was making landing. Escaped
without a scratch.
| Fell 1000 feet. wounded in ten
places. yet dived through some tele-
graph wires and made a safe landing
l 10 Alo al
bow smashed, both Jaws broken. two
, bullets in hand. one in thigh. wound
| in right ankle. another in left heel. fif-
teen teeth gone and right side OF face
torn out by explos.ve bullet. ne lived
two months IN a prison hospital which
had three surgeons and SIX nurses to
care for 500 men.
And last, but most important of all
Heinrichs was found In that hospital
tn the nick Of time. He had lived
/ only on his nerve. the surgeons
agreed, and his morale was Mt its low
est ebb when willard II. williams. this
Y. NJ C. A. secretary who was the first
American to enter Metz. appeared In
the hospital, the first visible connrma
! ton that the allied forces were close
at hand.
| And let me say that ne WAS well
come citizen" Heinrichs declares
Since 1 have got back I have heard
things said about the that don't cor
respond at all with my experience with
that organization. There was a out
1T with our squadron most Of the
helps we had You can try to imagine
how we all felt when that man
reached us at MetE-an example OF en-
terprise OF anything is. And after
| left. the hospital was entertained by
| Y men at Tours. At the officers hotel
I have nothing but good to say OF
them"
Bear~ EvtAesee.
| The scare Of ten wounds and the
| Croix de Guerre, with palm. are
some Of the evidences Heinrichs bears
that he was in the war. He enlisted
as a private in the ground school for
nviators at Boston Tech. and was one
OF the ten honor graduates. He went
| overseas a year ago last July. took
the hntshinK Courses At Tours, Evord
Issoudon and Cazaux and on February
~ went to the Champagne front with
| the Ninety-ffth squadron
| Hcinrichs got HIS first taste Of war
on patrol duty between Chalons and
Rheims and had his sfrst night within
a week. IT was quiet sector, how
ever. and the squadron was transferred
at the end of two months to the
Chemin des Danes. The next shift was
| to the region about st. Mihiel and
Pont-a- Mousson. Then things began to
| liven up a bit
| German fIiers grew venturesovne and
the Americans were doing . good aver
age business when one day Heinrichs
encountered a Hun who wanted to
! fight. After little preliminary ma
noeuver,ng Heinrichs got in close and
Owed on hts antagonist, his machine
! gun going full tilt A. he ran the
German down he passed 30 close under
him that he struck the tall Of the Hun
machine. He saw hts foe falling. APP
parently shot down.
Almost At the same moment No found
that he himself was falling. He pulled
up on his stick" but the plane did not
respond. A glance II his wing showed
that half OF 1t had been stripped OF
from end to end, and that there con :
s~quently was nothing to buoy up
the machine. which was nov In : ncse
spin For over 5000 fset Heinrichs