Evening star., 1938-07-03
TRIO 0F|NDS NEW
REUNION ANGLE.
Writers Who Covered First
Bivouac rs Years Ago
Fly Over Field.
BY JOHN ]. DAILY,
Stan Correspondent of The Star.


five years ago ITO newspaper corre-
spondents from every State in the
Union and abroad covered" the first
reunion OF the Blue and Gray-one-
half century after the battle of
Gettysburg.
Today three newspapermen. repre-
sentng the remnants of the original
corps of Gettysburg correspondents, in
q Pennsylvania Central Airline plane
few over the fields they had walked
over as reporters Is years ago and
recorded their impressions and ex-
periences
The correspondents were Earl God
win of the Washington Times, who q
quarter Of century ago covered the
Gettysburg reunion of the Blue and
Gray for The Evening Star; Michael
Flynn, an executive of the Washing
ton Herald, who covered the reunion
for the Baltimore Sun. and your hum
BILE correspondent. who, as the youngest
newspaperman on the field wrote the
stories out of Gettysburg by wire and
mail for the Washington Post-John
J. DAILY.
Airplane in Infancy.
Twenty-Five years ago when we, as
young newspaper men. went to Gettys-
burg to record the first and only re-
union Of the men from the South who
fought against the men from the
North, no such thing as radio existed.
The airplane was in its infancy Col
c. De Forrest Chandler was head of
the Army Flying Corps then conduct
ing experiments at College Park. Md
and it is strange to state that no air.
plane dew from College Park to the
encampment at Gettysburg: whereas
two years previous the Army flyers had
established the worlds long distance
flight from College Park to Frederick,
Md, a distance of less than 100 miles
Yesterday at Gettysburg. when the
three correspondents, who represent
the last vestige of the old gang who
covered Gettysburg Is years ago, flew
over the historic site they saw a
nightly changed scene First of all,
in 1913 there were $4,000 tents housing
$4,000 persons. These included 10000
Confederate gray; $4,000 boys" who
wore the Union blue, and $1,000 men,
bers Of the United States Army, the
National Guard and the Pennsylvania
State Constabulary, who were there to
help the "old fellows" around the
ground.
It was the first time in history that
men who had fought each other on
the field of battle came together in
q friendly spirit Therefore. Euro
pean nations took cognizance of the
event. Lord Northcliffe sent cor
respondent from London Men came
from Berlin and st. Petersburg.
There also were correspondents from
Paris.
Mecca Of Soldiers.
Gettysburg. in other words. was the
mecca of all soldiery, for there had
never been an event Of this kind in all
the history of militarism.
When the men of the Blue and the
Gray met they came together as
friends, and they recounted the more
humorous events of the battle. Also,
they had sense Of the sublime oc-
casion. They were like schoolboys let
out of school without the restraint of
family life-the plucking of the sleeve
from their wives. their daughters and
perhaps their sweethearts-they went
wild. Gettysburg was a sort of college
reunion.
One night three old-timers, two
members of the Union Army and one
OF the Confederate. went down to
Gettysburg town to have celebration
There was only one way of getting
back to the camp. and that was to
walk. They walked along the highway
AS they neared the encampment one
of the old fellows said as he looked
up to the sky. What is the time by
that post Office clock?"
That amt the post Office Clock"
said the second member, that's the
sun going down"
"Oh. no." said the third member of
the trio-"that amt the sun going
down; that's the moon coming up"
Well" said the first man, there's
something wrong here-let's ask this
brother coming along the road what
time it is"-and they stopped the
fourth man and said, What is that
the post office clock. the moon coming
up, or the sun going down."
You got me. brother don't know
what it isl haven't been to Gettys-
burg for so years and everything is
changed around here"
Cameraman Goes Along.
As we flew over the battlefield today.
Al Mingalone, Paramount news cam
eraman was with us, remarking about
the strange conformity of the clouds.
incidentally, AL Mingalone was the
newsreel man who made runaway
trip with balloons in Maine in Sep
tember last year, when he was shot
down by parish priest, Father Jim
Mullen Of Old Orchard, Me.
Also among the passengers was Les
lie Arnold, member of the Armys
first fight around the world in 1924,
and now vice president Of the Pennsyl-
vania-Central Airlines. After looking
over the tranquil battlefelds of Gettys-
burg from the plane, Mr.. Arnold said:
II have flown the world around, but
never in all my flying life have I ever
seen a scene more impressive than
this where the last bivouac of those
. old soldiers was taking place-veterans
Of battle that took place IS years
ago. and hardly a man amongst them
younger than 80 years.
When these men fought at Gettys-
burg IS years ago they never dreamed
that such thing as an airplane
would ever be conceived; but today
we are flying over this battlefield
in modern multi-motored airplane,
which had it been commandeered by
either side in the battle IS years ago,
would have changed the entire trend
Of the battle most decisively.
Il served in the war Of 1917, and
now am wondering what shall