The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-12-17

Piccadilly Circus. all the lights ablaze
and all the cafes open. Now all the
walters have been formed into a special
battalion and put in the trenches.
guess most of them are dead. The
Puerta del Sol looked like an earth
they've made of Madrid is just too
bad"
f. He seemed to be struggling between
his natural reticence and the urge to
unburden himself of a man overcharged
with experience. I was eager to hear
more.
"None of you aviators, then, had the
least interest in the democratic faith
for which you were fighting? You were
not trying to deliver. the world from
the encroachments of Fascist tyranny"
"All those fine words are meant for
idealist nitwits a thousand miles away
We're on the spot. But we had one poor
kid who believed all: the DOPE" He
checked.
Tell me about him." Hansen's hard
boiled attitude was becoming antipa-
thetic to me. I was involuntarily inter-
ested in the n young man who held
higher ideals.
1T was a silly story he said re-
~luctantly, but as 2 matter of fact it
L "d0 Willy L A04U AxVElC was d III ali
it, too. A fool business"
I noticed that his glass. was empty
and summoned the steward.
His name was Harry Porter. Just
kid-not much more than 2O-but a
nice kid. He came from the middle
west somewhere. He'd been in. CONNER
cial aviation, and he was a darned
IT remember the first time he came
into u mess, all fresh from Valencia
Hail, comrades!' he said, and stuck up
his clenched fist in the Communist
salute.
low and the leader Of u unit-looked
up at him. 'Comrades-hell!' he said
We're all American citizens here. Cut
out that stuff. This is a strictly bus
mess outfit
"The kid was rather dashed, OF
course, coming in all full Of enthusi-
that he was a nice kid. So I invited
him to sit down and gave him a drink,
There was nothing ~milk-soppy about
him. He said, Here's howl He was a
nice looking kid, with a boyish face
all covered with freckles. Sandy hair
he had. His eyes lit up like a convert
at a revival meeting as he went or
telling me how glorious it was to be
there. =,
Il cut him short and asked him if
he'd done any army flying. Frances
lot had got in some new chaSers and
you needed to be pretty spry with them
OF course, he didn't know about any,
route and I rubbed in some good tech
nical advice. We weren't there to be
martyrs to the cause, but to earn our
! paw and spend it in New York with
any luck. But he was just wild with
enthusiasm and I got so scared tor
him that I asked Jim Lawrence to let
him go up with me tomorrow 10 SHOW
him around a bit.
Next morning I took him up. W.
were covering the retreat of the Red
army and militia battalions like a lot
of gypsies on the hike, SwarmS OF 'em
any old how, but all Logging it as fast
as they could for home and beauty
! There wasn't any anti-aircraft worth
mentioning in those days and we could
and a few French Dewoittine chasers'
4 saw a packet of FRANCES cavalry,
Moors with long cloaks, and went down
to less than a thousand feet to drop a
few eggs on them. Usually I had three
Spanish N. c. O.'s to work the machine
guns. but this morning I had to put the
kid at the gun just behind me; Ia
shown him how to work it before start;
ing. We dropped the eggs all right n
sent the caValry-Or what was lett OF
'em-haring across the fields.
Then I heard the machine gun pop.
~pop-popping behind me I looked
around and there were three German
! chasers diving for us. The rest OF our
planes had seen 'em before I did, and
mans after them. It's odd how one
can count cooly in a flash in a mo-
ment like that. I showed her up to
gain height, and waved to the kid to
hold his fire. There was no use IN
wasting cartridges at that distance.
Those Germans must have been
more or less amateurs, not protesslona
army flyers they had out afterwards
They had nc idea of formation FLYING
One dived right across us. I put my
bus up to dodge the machine gun burst
and heard all my guns rafting behinc
me as the German flattened out.
Then something hit me hard: I fell
myself diving into blackness-like go:
knew I was lying squashed tight against
the side of the cockpit. When I wiped
the blood out of my eyes, the kid wa:
at the controls. He grinned at me.
pulled myself up and looked to sex
where we were. We were just circlinf
to come down at our aerodrome. I GER
tainly was glad to see it. As he shut of
! Vl1C 41NOV04o, ~ S4AONVSos Aoo GA ASA
Hansen. I got that fellow. I didn'
bother about the others. Amt Thu
great!' Just like a schoolboy, he was.
THAT was my first experience O
him, and he must have been a slicl
flyer to have got away from the others
the way he did. Afterwards we founc
what a born ace he was. There WASN'T
much the matter with me. A ricochet
from the fuselage had scored me acros:
the top of the head. Naturally, I likec
the kid all the better after that.
HE vas out of the run of our gang
anyway. Sort of fellow you can't for
get"
Where did the girl come in?"
"Oh, that! Yes. she was out of thu
run too. We'd gone into Madrid ont
night-seven or eight of us. Jim Law
renee, a fellow. named Jackson, who't
been on the other side when I wa!
flying in the Chaco. young Harr!