Abilene weekly reflector., 1919-01-02
MUCH dARvIE's THRILLING TRIP
Aviator Fell In Germany and Finally
Was Released.

Ia his parents MT hhd mFS' 'HhiS'
Gnrvle, Of his landing inside the Ger
man lines and his final release. HI
says:
In order to give you the straight o.
things, | suppose 1t will be necessary
to sstart at the beginning. Although
It will mean long letter, l guess yoI
can all find time to read It.
was brought down September 26
about IL a. m. Our squadron goi
up at A 100 In the morning on the day
of the beinning of the American
drive between verdun and Argonn'
forest. The barrage opened up about
200 a. m. We could hear the roar
of the heavy artillery long before we
took OFF Just as II was beginning to
get light, our squadron had patrol.
We flew up and down the lines at a
height OF about 1000 feet II was
n wonderful sight TO see the flashes
OF artillery on the ground when 1t
was not yet bright. A slight fog
was hanging on the ground, filling In
all the low places. This in addition
TO the artillery smoke which also
hung low, formed a kind Of white
belt up and down the line where the
fighting was the hardest. Whenever
one of the large pieces of artillery
was fred. one could see small eddies
In the fog in front Of the cannon
similar to those seen in water. The
attack had not been expected and
the aerial activity was not very great
on our first patrol. On the way back,
a few Of the men attacked two BIZ
plane machines. In the combat, the
gasoline gave out but through using
the reserve supply they were able to
get over the lines.
Upon arriving at the field, our ma
chimes were filed with gas and oil and
equipped each with two small bombs
We were ordered out to "strafe'
German troops, reinforcemcnts,
truck trains, and etc, which were be-
ing brought up to the front. This
requires flying very low because at
great height one is unable to see
troops on the round and cannot fire
the guns and drop bombs accurately.
When flying low, 1t is much more
dangerous for one Is within range of
the machine guns on the ground.
Then, the Arches are much more
efficient and there is always the Jan
ger of enemy machines diving down
on you.
Well, that is just what happened
to me. We were back about ten
miles and had dropped our bombs and
were "straffing" road leading to
the front l was flying last man.
In the formation when number OF
Fockers came diving down, firing Mt
us. In this fight, my gas tank was
hit and my pressure went down. |
turned on my reserve tank and con
tinued in a zig gag course. In the
fight which followed my motor was
hit. ! knew all was over then and
that had no chance of getting back.
I started to glide toward ground,
enemy machines firing at me all the
way down. Ny machine was just
riddled with holes. Gasoline, water,
oil and steam from the engine were
coming back in my face. l was ex-
pecting at any time to catch on fire.
My windshield had been shot out from
In front Of me and my face was cut
a little by small pieces OF flying
glass. / made a landing without
breaking up. They dived down on
me after had landed, firing a few
bursts. ] unbuckled my belt, dropped
down in the cock pit as If ] had
been hit and they few Off and left
me. Then l got out Of the machine
and was taken to dugout where l
was questioned. From there they
took me to high officer in another
dugout. After finishing with him,
was taken out and turned over to a
number of guards. They all took
out clip of cartridges and loaded
their guns. was standing up against
a stone wall. thought l had done
something which they did not ap-
prove of and was to be shot. Instead,
they were only taking little pre-
caution against my escape. If l re-
member my knees were trembling
just a little at that moment. They
then brought in another lieutenant,
by the name of Evans, who had been
brought down. He was wounded in
the leg and his head had been bruis-
ed little in the landing.