Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1919-01-21

the next shot.
When conditions are favorable they
are able to direct the shots 80 accu-
rately that it is quick work destroying
the object Of their attack. 1t was such
q balloon as this that got my position,
marked me out, called for an artillery
shot, and they commenced shelling my
machine where 1t lay. II had got
the two balloons instead Of the air
plane, I probably would not have lost
my machine, for he would In all proba-
bility have gone on home and not both
cred about getting my range and caus-
ing the destruction Of my machine. .,
I landed in a part Of the country
that was literally covered with shell
holes. Fortunately my machine was
not badly damaged by the forced land
ing. Ileisurely got out, walked around
1t to see what the damage was, and
concluded that 1t could be easily re-
paired. In fact, I thought If 1 could
find space long enough between shell
holes to get start before leaving the
ground that I would be able to fly on
from there.
was still examining my plane and
considering the matter Of few slight
repairs, without any particular thought
for my own safety in that unprotected
spot, when q shell came whizzing
through the air, knocked me to the
ground and landed few feet away.
It had no sooner struck than I made
a run for cover and crawled into a
shell hole. I would have liked to get
farther away, but didn't know where
the next shell would burst, and
thought I was fairly safe there, so
squatted down and let them blaze
away.
The only damage I suffered was
from the mud which splattered up In
my face and over my clothes That
was my introduction to shell hole,
and 1 resolved right there that the In
fantry could have all the shell-hole
fighting they wanted, but 1t did not
appeal to me. though they live In them
through many long night and I had
only sought shelter there for q few
minutes.
After the Germans had completely
demolished my machine and ceased
firing, waited there short time,
fearing perhaps they might send over
a lucky shot, hoping to get me after
all. But evidently they concluded
enough shells had been wasted on one
man. I crawled out cautiously, shook
the mud off, and looked over In the
direction where my machine had once
been. There wasn't enough left for a
decent souvenir. but nevertheless / got
a few, "such as they were," and read
lily observing that nothing could be
done with what was left, I made my
way back to infantry headquarters,
where was able to telephone In
report
A little later one Of our automo-
biles came out after me and took me
back to our airdrome. Most OF my
squadron thought I was lost beyond
doubt, and never expected to see me
again but my friend, Paul Raney, had
held out that I was all right, and as
was afterwards told. said. Don't
send for another pilot; that Irishman
will be back. If he has to walk" And
he knew that the only thing that kept
me from walking was the fact that our
own automobile had been sent out to
bring me home.
had lots to think about that day,
and had learned many things; one
was not to have too much confidence
In my own ability. One of the men IN
the squadron told me that l had bet
ter not take those chances; that 1t
was going to be long war and l
would have plenty of opportunities to
be killed without deliberately wishing
them on" myself. Later L was to learn
the truth of his statement
That night my "flight"-each squad
ron is divided into three flights. con-
sisting of six men each-got ready to
20 out again. AS l started to put on
nv tunic I noticed that I was not
marked up for duty as usual.
I asked the commanding officer, q
major, what the reason for that was,
and he replied that he thought I had
done enough for one day. However,
knew that If I did not 60. someone
else from another flight" would have
to take my place, and I insisted upon
going up with my patrol as usual, and
the major reluctantly consented. Had
| he known what was in store for me,
am sure he wouldn't have changed his
mind so readily.
| AS It was we had only five machines
| for this patrol, anyway, because as we
crossed the lines one Of them had to
drop out on account Of motor trouble
Our patrol was up at 8 p. M, and up
to within ten minutes Of that hour II
had been entirely uneventful.
| At 1850 p. M, however, while we
were flying at a height Of $4,000 feet,
we observed three other English ma
chimes which were about 5000 feet
below us pick fight with nine Hun
machines.
| ! I knew right then that we were In
for At, because l could see over toward
the ocean q whole flock Of Hun ma.
| chimes which evidently had escaped
the attention Of our scrappy country.
men below US.
So we dove down on those nine
Huns.
At first the fight was fairly even
There were eight, Of US to nine OF them
But soon the other machines which
had seen In the distance, and which
were flying even higher than we were
arrived on the scene, and when they
In turn, dove down on us, there was
just twenty Of them to our eight
Four Of them singled me out. I was
diving, and they dived right down after
me, shooting as they came. Their
tracer, bullets were coming closer te
me every moment. These tracer bull
lets are balls Of fire which enable the
shooter to follow the course his Dui
lets are taking and to correct his aim
accordingly. They do no more harm
to 9 pilot Il he IL hit than an Ordinary