Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-18

tween the first and second line !
French trenches. The machine was
simply riddled with bullets although
the aviator was unhurt, one ball
only grazing his cheek, while an
other cut the gas throttle from his
hand. Landing a spad is a ticklish
job on the best of fields. but landing
one in the trenches-well, that isn't
a ticklish job-It's a ruin. Thus,
when Garand hit, he turned q
somersault Immediately. Being un->
hurt, he lost no time in crawling
out from under and starting to
peat 1t In the direction of Paris.
But the Boche were not taking any
chances of his getting away, and
when he crawled out they wore
ready for him, and one after an
other the whole seven took pot shots
at him as he ran. How he ever es-
capped will always remain one of
the mlracels of the great war.
am gIad he did, though, for a more
dependable f1ier and fighter I have
never flown with. 1t was the me-
chanic which was sent out to get
the guns off of this Frenchman's
plane that apparently proved con-
ciusively that l was dead, for he
inquired up there whether any
\ %ANo bCCh Sttn Ol announcer
plane-meaning me. Sure they had
seen another one crash" Another
Poliu had seen me come down in
names, and there I was, dead as q
| door nail! Do you wonder everyone
was surprised to see me? 1t was like
| having one rise from the dead.
Another American
| The escadrille had only arrived at
| this place few days before I got
there, and at that they had some
time, what with the awful flying
weather, not to mention motor
trouble. Out of eighteen planes
| which left for their new field. only
six arrived. The rest were scat
tered all over the Vosges mountains.
The one who ran into the side of
mountain and killed himself was
among these eighteen. Another
pilots motor quit on him just as
he was crossing q small town, and
he made a landing in the public
square, his wheels stopping just as
he struck the curb. | knew this
pilot well. but he only laughed when
| 1 asked him. about 1t. It's all in the
| days work is the way most of them
look at it; but this incident ought
to show where the fascination is
that lies in the flying game. When
one leaves the ground. one never
knows what. may happen, or how
soon he will have to make quick
decision as to whether he shall land
on a forest or drop into somebody's
parlor via the roof. Unless you are
flyer you will not understand
where the fascination lies. To you
landing in a public square sounds
rather dangerous, and 1T is, but to
do it and get away with it, there's
the point, and naturally every pilot
thinks he can.
There was another American al
the escadrille, who had come after
j had left for my visit to Germany
and since there was nothing to do al
the flying field, we got an auto and
permission to go to Strasburg. Sure
it was still raining, but we put in
most of our time while there in
restaurants and tea shops. They
sure had some beautiful ones, and
music in everyone, too. Wonderful
music it was and made me crazy to
want to dance, but pretty girls did
not seem plentiful. Besides, they
had such big feet that 1 feared il
we had gotten out on the floor there
would have been no space left.
That was the first thing my at.
tention was called to-the women's
big feet. Look at their feet" said
my American friend. did and they
sure were remarkable. Everyone
had a foundation like the Wool.
worth building, and we amused our.
selves most of the afternoon com.
pairing different sizes of feet as they
passed. We finally ended up in g
restaurant for dinner where English
and French was spoken. So it said
on the door, anyway. Tt was, too
and quite fluently-by one man. The
rest spoke Boche and we got nice
chunky Boche maiden to take oul
order. We had a lot of fun out oi
it, though, but I've forgotten al.
ready what the Boche. word fol
"cheri" is.
The way they changed money ur
there got my goat though. They
would take French money and give
one Boche nickels in change. II
was a dickens of a system, and
what made me sore was the fact thai
they would not take a twenty mark
Boche bill 1 had, and yet for a
French bill they would give me
Boche change. AS 1 said before
the system was utterly beyond me
I still have the Boche bill. Another
thing that surprised me was the
apparent abundance of sugar. They
seemed to have "beaucoup." I got
the biggest surprise of my life when
I ordered some coffee and had some
sugar served with it. They don't
do that in gay Paris, you know. II
one don't carry his own he goes
without. oh, say! You remember
/ told you I had my certificate
of loyalty" Well, 1 had it in my
pocket when taken prisoner. Ma
turally. the Boche took it as paper