Evening star., 1935-10-20

death to hundreds of people through
conflagration. Should it strike a
dwelling the wind would carry the
embers possibly through the tinder
boxes of houses below. Nope" cried
Lieut.. Anderson, cant do that" Sc
ne fights his way back into the fall
ing plane. Flames are now sweeping
around him: the heat is unbearable;
the smoke, the fumes, suffocating In
any moment an explosion may occur.
And all the time earth is rushing up
to him with terrifying speed. He
gains the controls. He fights fran
tically to right his plane. He sue
ceeds. And there, in the distance lies
the bay. And outward he heads the
nose of the sky firebrand to the ocean.
Like a flaming comet that plane
roared into the bay, struck the water,
sizzled and then went out. Anderson
struck the water on his back and then
lowing chute was carrying him to a
watery grave as the wind swept 1t
along over the sea. Still, however, he
was destined to be saved. The United
States fleet lay at anchor in the bay
and as thousands of officers and men
witnessed the drama before their eyes
sailor. with a knife between his
teeth, dived overheard. caught the
parachute rigging in one hand, swung
onto it, and cut the drowning man
loose. A few minutes later he was
aboard ship being treated for shock
and exposure-none the worse for his
narrowing experience. For his han
ding of the situation, Anderson re-
ceived the Distinguished Flying
Cross.
THE duties of Master Sergt. Ralph
w. Bottriell Of the corps call for
the testing of chutes. For over 20
years Bottriell has been going up in
the air and jumping. Each year he
has gone a little higher. Breaking
parachute jump records Is nothing to
him. But "one of these Jumps" he
says, "I shall never forget" Incl
dentally it brought him the Dis
tinguished Flying Cross. Here is the
story in his own words:
II was after beating the existing
parachute jump at the time-18,000
feet. At 1880 feet I told the pilot
was going to leave the plane. 1t
had reached its ceiling. At this the
pilot turned his rudder slightly and
nosed his plane into the air. In the
meantime had thrown off moccasins
and fur-lined coat and had signalled
to him I was leaving the pit when
some part of my parachute harness
must have caught on the gun turret,
pulling the rip cord of my pack and
ripping the parachute. The para
chute was thus released.
Going so miles an hour at the
time the wind caught the chute and
I was jerked from the cockpit and
whipped through the rudder of the
ship. The pull was so terrific that
my impact with the rudder caused it
to give way entirely and break my guy
cords. I am sure that If the rudder
had not given way my arm would
have been torn of. The force Of the
arm blow, however, must have rem
dered me unconscious as I dropped
about 5000 feet before I regained
my senses and realized what had
happened.
IT looked for the plane but could
not see it anywhere. Then I noticed
that one panel of the parachute had
been ripped its entire length by its
contact with the rudder. next
noticed numbness in my left arm
and when I tried to raise my hand I
was unable to move it or to work my
fingers. The arm was hanging back
of me so reached around to see what
had happened. I discovered that my
arm was entirely useless and thought
at once I had merely broken it until
found that blood was streaming
from my hand and that my sleeve
was saturated with it. With my right
hand I then pulled my left one around
in front and saw that the fiow of
blood was strong. knew that II I
continued to bleed at that rate until
I landed I would probably bleed to
death. Lifting my arm high, there
fore, ! fastened the hand Ia the web