The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-01-23
SANK "U-BOATS"
FROM BALLOONS
Philip R. Voltz Describes
the Thrilling Life Of
Americas Flying
Sailors"
FROM COLLEGE TO WAR
Young Kenoshan Enlists on Friday the
13th--Adventures are Equally
Eerie-H Heard Subs "Chat
BY wireless.

On Friday the 18th of April, 1917,
Philip w. Voltz was just Freshman
at Northwestern University. B u
he was something else, too. He was a
patriot. He was intensely interested
in President Wilson'S message
to Congress and insisted on read
ing it while Professor Someone was
discoursing at length on the hypoten-
use of an ohm "or something
And right there his trouble or
was it trouble? began. Professor
Someone objected and gently but firm
" invited him to deprive his fellow
students of his patriotic presence in
the classroom.
Obedience9 that was him all
over, Mabelp and few moments
later he was doing forward march ("
in the general direction Of a United
States recruiting station. He had de-
cided that war was more important
shan college, anyway, and had started
cut to live the Presidents message.
Being red-blooded American youth
without deformities or anything he
was accepted for the Navy and present.
~ found himself on his way to sink
the subs.
On another Friday the 18th it was
in December, 1918 he started back
home, which is for him either the resi-
dence of his mother, Mrs. Anna Voltz
ii 566 Sheridan Road, or Of his sis
ter Mrs. Roy G.. Page Of 1910 1st ST..
Milwaukee. He brought with him
wonderful story. This is it.
SIN Which 7 Became a Cob"
81 thought it was going to be a
WATERMAN so ] enlisted in the navy.
was at the Great Lakes for less than
d week and then / shipped for the east
via Canada.
g We were the first uniformed Ameri-
can troops to pass through the Old
Dominion and we received ovations at
every port.
Our destination was the very tip
of old Long Island. When we got there
we could see nothing but salt water
and sand dunes. Nevertheless as
the song says '7we raised Old Glory
to the top of the pole - and opened
up the first naval aviation station in
the United States.
tThere were only nineteen of us
then When 7 left the other day the
station claimed 1900 Gobs and was us
ing thousand dollars worth Of high
test gasoline a day and maybe a
little more on Sundays.
cit was the life, too, I'm telling
the world with German 'subs' in
aotilla beyond the harbor line.
SIN Which I See sumarines''
"When we first hit the coast we
thought the stories about submarines
over here were all bunk. But we
found out we were wrong on that lit
tie point at least.
" After we got good and started we
used to 90 out in kite balloons - big
ones of the county fair type only bet
ter attached to old destroyers or
yachts and scour the coast for subs.
Very frequently we sighted periscopes
and once or twice we had every reason
TO believe we'd sent one or two Of the
'sea-snakes' to pavy Jones IS locker.
After that we conveyed the Lev
jathan ON all of its trips - there were
eleven of them--and each time it car
ried $4,000 American soldiers to the
battle line in France.
ST Patrol the Seas at Midnight
"Last summer when the subs got
busy on the coast we had some regu-
lar times We'd wait until midnight
and then start out in the old kite bal
looms to pick up a few of the swim
min Fritzes. They weren t so wary
then as they were at other hours and
lots of times we got some good stuff.
Night after night we would hear
them chatting to each other by wireless
but always in code.
"We managed to pick up a great
many of their messages. Most of them
we couldn't decipher at all but we did
learn q little something about U-boats
in the Atlantic. Before we got through
we decided that they had three or
four Of them just outside the harbor
most Of the time with train Of sup
ply-subs all the way across the pond.
I" We also found out that the Ger
man government was Offering hun
bred thousand dollars to any crew that
ut q transrnrA nrr.tL I..,..n -