New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

ships. The Distinguished Ser,:.
Cross was awarded him after Il.
death.
"His loss, bitter work and tn. !.
tense excitement of battle seemed ).
make Luke grow stale. He did rou.;,.
patrol work for couple of DAYS. -.
then asked for leave, which -.
granted him, with reluctance. h. !.
said, for the group commander en-,
missed that the Americans were ahos.
to start new offensive. But Ius.
promising to return immediately nm,
Geographic orders, went off for th,..
days at Orly, a small town near psr;s
"On September 26 the Arropn.
Meuse offensive began. Luke w..
telegraphed for and came back. n.
dropped his baggage in his tent, %.
into his flying clothes and went m
This time he, with two other friend,
Ivan Roberts and Alden Sherry-
had an escort; but the escort v,,
intercepted, the trio had bitter ana
prolonged fight and Luke came bael
alone, for Roberts was shot down and
killed, and Sherry was driven dow,
into our own lines and crashed, ass
to add insult to injury was spraysa
by the enemy with machine gun 6n
from the air.
During Luke's leave an advanced
field had been established in the absn,
doned airdrome near Nerdun where h.
had landed on the afternoon of Sen.
TENDER 20. This field was only sir
kilometres back of our line. 1t wa,
surrounded by several wrecked hangar
whose roofs had been shot away, and
as long as the Americans found it ser.
viceable they made practice of crank,
ing their ships inside the hangers and
then taxing out into the open, so tina,
they might not be spotted by Hun oh.
servers. For all that the Germans
knew we were there, and once the larre
calibre bombardment was so terriH.
that the very gas tanks were jarred
until they leaked at the seams, making
it impossible to fly the planes.
Ne,u Tactics
Luke few from this field, undera
new tactical scheme whereby he wa,
to work individually, always with thu
protection of strong escort. His
c. O. said to him: Luke, you havs
victories enough to show me you hsys
the nerve. I'll give you enough pro
lection to run your victories I'D to a
hundred. Only be careful Don't
worry, major, answered Luke. 'Ths
can't get me-
He got a two-seater on the after
noon of September 81 At a little afte,
3 that evening, as the group com.
mander was about to fly back from thu
advanced field to group headqua rter,
he caught sight of Luke lurking in III
shadows of one of the ruined hangar
The young officer grinned impatiently
Now, it happened that orders had been
issued directing Luke to join patrol
which was TO leave the home airdrom,
at 6:15. The advanced field was ten
minutes nearer the rendezvous, and
Luke's orders were not to start until
6:25. AS the group commander got into
his ship he heard behind him an en-.
CINE being warmed up. 1t was Luke's,
sure enough. He ordered that the en-.
CINE be shut off, and directed CAPTAIN
Vasconcelles, his fight leader, to ss
that Luke did not leave before his or.
ders permitted. The engine was
stopped, and the last the group COM
mander saw of Luke he was still grin.
nlng, like boy w has been caugh.
doing something for which he knows
ne will not be very badly punished
That night he got another balloon and
did not come back to sleep in his homs
airdrome.
mo one seems to remember much
about him the next day until late 10
the afternoon, when he flew over an
American airdrome and dropped
weighted note in which he called a.
tention to three drachens across the
line and wanted some one to keep 10
eye on them. The rest is a mosaic .!
impressions and hearsay, some CLEANED
from the sayings of natives of the
country since repatriated.
The End
He went over at a very high alt
tude, and not far from directly above
the drachens was intercepted by ten
enemy machines. He engaged all Of /