OCR Text |
Show EFFECTS OF WflR ME ! PICTURED HI LETTER Ensign J. Leo Mcehan Writes C. A. Quigley of Impressions. Describes General Crumbling Crum-bling of Hun Ambitions to Rule World. A fascinating picture of the effects of . wb r and their Impression upon the men who are risking their lives to free the world of kaiserlsm La contained In a letter let-ter which C. A. Qulgley yesterday received re-ceived from J. Leo Meehan, ensign, United States navnl reserve flyers, and former Salt Laker. Ensign Meehan writes from headquarters In the field, northern bombing group, United States naval aviation avia-tion forces, foreign service, after having Just returned from ten days in London Previous to entering the service of his country, Ensign Meehan was the editor of the Intermountaln Catholic, and, pre-, ceding that, ;i member of the editorial stuff of The Tribune.. . "As for Impressions." he writes, 'when one gets as many and as varied ones as It has been my good fortune to have In the past twelve months. It is apt to be something of a job to single out one or two or e en several, and shape them Into written words with any degree of clarity. Now T feel that 1 need the perspective view, which I hope to get when I get hack on the other side of the I Atlantic. Thus ripened. I hope perhaps I will have at least some reminiscences that may interest my old friends. "I had a splendid Opportunity last week to try out -tolling tales" of my impressions impres-sions and experiences, for ( had the very good fortune to find Mr, McKay of The Tribune In London. It was rather peculiar pe-culiar tho way I located him. Recognized Picture. "I picked up tho Dally Sketch one morning and noticed a picture of a party of American press representatives who had Just arrived In London. No names were given, but 1 recognized my old hoss In the group. But at that It was a job to find him, since there are some six or eieht million people around the city. After a hit of work on the teiepnone I located him .-It the famous Savoy , hotel. i got in touch with him, took him to dinner at the American Officers" club, a verv beautiful place, by the way. furnished fur-nished through the hospitality of the British government and nobility. W e rounded off the evening at 'Chu Chin Chow,' the most elaborate and best musical production 1 have ever seen, and which has been running now In His Majesty's theater for considerably more than two years continuously, I was his guest the ' following evening. So, you see, T had an opportunity to get all the late home news from him and he seemed i Interested In such glimpses of "over here as 1 could give him, though in his own wonderful lour of France and England T presume' my little tales will pale into I obscurity. ' 1 "These are Wonderful days to he alive, and more wonderful days still to be over here where the world is being remade, where giant armies, directed by their great leaders, are rapidly reducing to I complete ruin the most titanic and cruel instrument of earthly ' helllshness that perverted minds have ever conceived. Must See Tragedy. "You folks know something of it . of course, but tho awful, frightful, unforgettable unfor-gettable tragedy of It all must he seen to be comprehended. One must catch at j least fleeting glimpses of ruined cities 1 where a few ghostly stones or pulverized 1 rubbish heaps are the only marks left to Indicate where monuments to cen-turles cen-turles of patient, loving effort stood. One must see and talk with men in the con? tlnuous night and day procession of wounded who come down from the front. One must chat, perhaps in London over the afternoon tea -nips, with immaculately immacu-lately attired officers of the British and Canadian forces, and hear them tell harrowing har-rowing taks of unbellevaore, unendura-blo unendura-blo suffering at Mons or the Somme In those dark days when It seemed as though nothing but the Creator could atop the i ush of the mighty Prussian hordes. "One mst fraternize with the courageous courage-ous pilots, cavalry of the air." who have calmly met and driven to flaming, crash -' ing death the most daring and adroit of the Hun aviators. Mere boys, many of them, sitting at tho dinner table in the evening, laughing and joking gayly their only serious moment being when they raise their glasses of port and solemnly sol-emnly toasi to their king. It is difficult Indeed for the newcomer to realize that he may never hear them laugh and chat again, that the next day a machine-gun bullet or an aerial barrage may demand the supreme sacriilee. Seek Destroyers. "One musl see the sleek destroyer deadly enemy of the U-boat and the odd little mine sweepers bravely making their patrols over the high seas, clearing a lane for Liberty's great army. 5e,e.ing these things, and countless otherj1 'hat are merely incidental, after ail. to -iu mighty business' of twentieth century warfare, one begins to realize or gives up hope of ever being able to realize, what it means. And one becomes thoughtful and thanks the Providence who has decreed that the power that brought this fright fulness to earth shall be destroyed before it can stain our snores, lay wast e to our cities and enslave en-slave our home folks. "Peace, indeed ! Foch is giving them peace, the only sort of peace they deserve. de-serve. We over here want peace, want it worse than you do. even, because we know better what war Is. But we want only a peace that will guarantee that there will never be a repetition of this awful calamity, this untold, indescribable suffering. "I happen to be stationed In the immediate im-mediate vicinity of the far-famed channel chan-nel ports which for four bitter years were the coveted prizes so ruthlessly sought by German jhnkerlsm. 1 am on the very edge of Flanders, by those poor little acres of despoiled Belgium which have been all that the Belgian people could claim as t heir very own. In this vicinity, employing every device and instrument in-strument of modern warfare, sacrificing thousands of their very best troops, the legions of Hlndenburg and LudendorfT and their Satanic master have t ried to break through and bring the world to Its knees. Nov.. tonight as 1 write, they are abandoing this ground in despair, fully realizing that tnrlr avaricious dreams never will be realized. It Is good to be here, indeed !" |