| Show MESSAGE TELLING FATE OF AIRMAN SENT BY Aviators at Front Maintain f Old For Form n of Chivalry V i Between Adversaries t 8 By Ernest Ernes P. P Orr Ori international News Service Correi Corre Corre- i i. i PARIS Aug 27 By By Mail A Mall A sint sin sin- 11 t gle gie seated Albatross type D. D L r. flew f out from the German lines north of Verdun Rising swiftly to a height of I Imore more than feet it winged winged south southwest south south- f west est over the Morthomme down past Verdun It flew straight toward an i aviation avla fon field over which fluttered the I American flag It was the of othe the Lafayette esca escadrille rille I rr No French Frenc mac machine rose roso to meet the German aviator and no anti anti- anti German German 1 I a guns shot at him himL L He unmolested until he heI I I hovered over the Lafayette ee escadrIlles escadrIlle's field i k S t A packet dropped from the German I X 9 machine and the sun made the white paper resemble a huge snowflake e falling fall- fall Ming king ing lazily and turning over and over as Wit ht fell feU k 1 Half a a. dozen American youths and about fifty French mechanics followed f the course of the packet to earth T They were waiting to catch It when it iti l i landed The German machine had then started back to its field Willis aviator American found I t dead in wrecked French machine inside in- in side German lines was scrawled in English on the paper that fell to the ground This message was in answer 2 1 to one dropped on a German aviation field field the day before by Sergeant Edwin C. C Parsons of Springfield Mass one of of the veterans of the Lafayette escadrille escadrille esca- esca i Adjutant Harold Buckley Willis of Boston had bad been missing for two days and his companions did not know whether he had been killed or captured drafted a note in German asking for foi particulars which was dropped to the Germans by Parsons Parsons was greeted with shrapnel when he reached the German lines but the moment that he dropped the note in a large white envelope the antiaircraft anti anti- aircraft g guns ns ceased firing It was Understood understood un- un r that he be was dropping a message message message mes- mes sage sage and German and allied aviation service members maintain the old form of between adversaries i Willis Robert of New York land and and Parsons were assigned to escort n. n a squadron of the new rd rd- rd ing biplanes of the type which executed a raid behind the German lines two days before General Guilla- Guilla maut conducted his offensive north of Verdun A dozen French pilots in fast st little lIttle fighting single reinforced the he trio of Americans protecting th the J nore r ore bulky and slower b bombarding f machines V The Th fighting machines kept the Geran Gernan Ger- Ger j nan an attacking biplanes at their disi dis- dis i r. r t nce on the way behind the enemy enem while the big dropped their cargoes cargo s of bombs and torpedoes vital points of the German railway rail- rail Yay way system cantonments shell dumps and gun emplacements 1 The then started home a and d the fifteen fighting machines hovered behind to cover the retreat Two Gerli German German Ger- Ger li man squadrons s. s of a score score of machines each eich e ch attacked th the allied aircraft simultaneously Soon the trio of Americans were f o or ore e group aone the French handling the other ivo Ive German machines were sent to Uhe e earth in in- flames in Two French pilots were Were hit and fell like rockets W Wllis who had maneuvered behind a 1 German machine sent down a sixth enemy machine but at that moment a German above dived straight at him shooting continuously Parsons and saw Willis fall faU his machine put out ut of control but not d dropping plummet plummet plummet plum- plum met like Uke They were doubtful as to whether he had been able to make a safe landing The two Americans and the nine re- re Frenchmen cut their way through the enemy squadrons and safely ran through the shells from German antiaircraft guns The day after re receiving the German notification that Willis had been killed i Lieutenant William Thaw flew over the German flying field and dropped a av v wreath inscribed to the memory of the dead pilot by the Lafayette escadrille f The next day Sergeant Walter Valter David Rheno Rheno of at Marthas Vineyard Mass who ho has been flying at the front with t I the escadrille less than a month scored his first victim At a height of t feet J-feet feet he Ie attacked a ne new model biplane sending it down in flames within the enemy's nemy's lines |
