Show UI U. S. S OFFICERS GET CROSS CROSS- CAPTURE HUN AIRMEN Two Single-Handed Single Seize Crew of Disabled Plane After Paris Attack By Henry G. G Wales I International News Service Staff Correspondent WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY 1 IN FRANCE March l 25 Captain 25 Captain H Herbert Herbert Her Her- r- r bert Hartwell of Springfield Mass ass and Lle Lieutenant tenant Walter WaIter France of or Oakland City Ind md have been decorated decorated decorated deco deco- rated with the French war cross by bythe bythe bythe the French General commanding tho the Chemin Des Dames sector for capturing capturing capturing cap cap- turing the three members of the crew of a German airplane which had taken part pant in an air raid over Paris paria about a fortnight ago Captain Wold VoId a Prussian the pilot of the German machine and Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieutenant Lieu Lieu- tenant Kammerer the bomb dropper were captured b by Lieutenant France while the tho of the airplane airplane airplane air air- plane Sergeant Fisher was captured by Captain Hartwell We Ve were stationed near Clamecy when we heard that raiders were on their way toward Paris later and we heard them returning toward their thelt own lines said Lieutenant France today i S I could tell by the sound that their I motor was failing and soon saw the German machine descending The captain and I ran toward the Germans as their machine struck the earth It landed against a shell crater crater crater cra cra- ter and the men were catapulted from the airplane They then set fire to It 5 The Prussian Prussian captain captain was chased I into an old disused trench where he I Iwas was tal taken en prisoner Then the German German Ger Ger- I Ger-I I man lieutenant was pursued but two shots from an automatic pistol soon 1 I halted him We Yo took our German 1 captives to our quarters where we gave first aid to the captain whose back was burned and the sergeant whose back was injured The lieutenant lieutenant lieutenant lieu lieu- tenant who was unhurt spoke English English En En- glish gush until the capt captain ln ordered him to keep silent The German captain captain cap cap- tam tain offered me his Iron cross but I refused to accept it After the German German German Ger Ger- man machine had been set afire an bomb exploded but did no damage Wold Vold told me he ho was a former daylight flier and said he had brought down numerous allied machines He HeI I I I added that he disliked night but was forced into the service 1 I Later French troops troops- took charge of the prisoners i iThe The French citation accompanying I the war crosses asserted that Captain Cap Cap- CapI I tam tain Hartwell and Lieutenant France Franc France I were the first Americans to capture enemy enem officers alone entirely unassisted unassisted unas unas- slated by the French Clamecy near near where the Americans made their capture lies north of the Aisne river and and between three and four miles northeast of Soissons ns I |