OCR Text |
Show i wf FAM S SciD - ciD 1 . G DLINE U T ,7 7 , : 1yL1 i'iiTt iiiTt ' 6 / I [ ) ] ! [ 1t'JI 1tJI 1t'JI"Flight ' oc9/ oc9 oc91t'JI "Flight Flight " in the Dark " ! 3y Jy By FLOYD GIBBONSJOHN GIBBONS GIBBONSBOHN BOHN JOHN F . MEEHANof MEEHAN of White 'Vhite Vhite ' Plains Plams , N . Y . , tells today's todays today'sstorythe today'sstory todaysstory ' story-the story the - the tale of five men who planned an escape from froma a German prison camp . John went to France early in 1914 with the British forces The late latewInter latewinter latewinter wInter of 1&17 117 HH7 1D17 & found him wm in m the German concentration camp near Cassel nearCassel twentyother , and in December of that same year he was sent with twenty other prisoners to a , work .ork ork . camp near Bebra a few miles mUes away John Johnfound found himself Illmsel ! cutting cuttmg wood in m a gang with three Canadians and a French French- Frenchman Frenchman . - man named Errul EffiJl Emil , and those five men planned an escapeIt escape escapeIt It took them from December to March to get ready . \ Most 1\Iost 1 Iost ofthe ofthe of ofthe the food sent them from home they gave away , to bribe bnbe theirguards theirguards their theirguards guards to get them things thmgs tlicy they needed-a needed a needed - a compassnd compass " \ ind \nd nd Vend a map ofthe ofthe of ofthe the territory . The rest of the food they hoarded . By the sixth of March they had their plans perfected and 'Sere Sere 'Sereready . ' wereready . ere ereready ready to make the break had . They hidden hJdden their then food supply In Incanvas incanvas incanvas nighttravel mghttravel canvas bags in the woods , and they judged that . . , In twelve days of mght night laybetween travel they could cover the hundred and thirty kilometers that lay between them and the Dutch border . Only Three Could Attempt the Flight . . According Accordmg to their plan only three of them could escape That after after- afternoon afternoon afternoon - noon they Uley drew lots to see who would remain remam behind In tho the meantIme , . EmIl Emil meantimeEmu , . , the Frenchman rrenchman , had received a letter from home saying saymg Ulat that IDS his thatbis UlatIDS thathis w wife e was very ill III He begged to be allowed to go and the others othersconsented othersconsented othersconsented consented JackBurman When the lots were drawn John Meehan Meeban , Emil rmll : and Jack Burman one of the Canadians , were the ones chosen to make the attemptEach attempt attemptEach leavingtheir leavIngthcir Each night mght the pnsonersere prisoners pnsoners were \\ere ere \ locked in their thclr huts , leavIng thcir their shoes outside the door . Regularly at eight o'clock oclock ' a guard guardor guardof guardof or of openedtho openedthe two soldiers soldlcrs made the rounds . On this tWs night mght , . as they opened the door to check the occupants of the hut but John lived hved in , a fight fightstarted fightstarted fightstarted started between betwecn two of the Canadians . One guard stepped lDslde inside lDsldeto insideto insideto to stop it d . Someone tripped tnpped him . , He went down , yelling yclllng for the theothcr theother theother othcr other guard . As the other guard came eame in the door there was a crash of broken brokencrockery brokencrockery brokencrockery crockery . In an instant mstant , both guards and both Canadians CanadJans were rolling rollingtogether together andJack on the floor . And In the Ule midst Inldst of the contusion confusIOn John , Emil and Jack Burman dashed out of the door , snatched up a pair ofshoes of shoes each eachand , and were dashing across the hundred yal yaid d wide clearing clearmg toward the thewoods thewoods thewoods woods on the other side sideHad sideHad Had to Leave Their Wounded Comrade . ' * More guards came running up , " says John "They They " took pot shots shotsat shotsat shotsat at us as we went We were almost to the edge of oMhe the woods wpods wben when " , hen they theyThe 1 ! w wf f , 7 7Vi ' : . ; Vi ViZ : Z Mt { rq rqI I The Pursuers Stopped When They Found Jack . got Jack hi in the leg I stopped to pick him hun up , , but he be told me he be l.ouldn't l.ouldnt louldnt couldn't couldnt l.ouldn'tgo couldn'tgo . couldn'tgo couldntgo ' go on on . . We left him hun there and ran for the woods . . "Our Our flOur " pursuers stopped when they found Jack . . We stumbled stumbledon on for another hundred yards in our stocking stockmg feet and by the hme tune hmewe tunewe we got to the place " , where "here here here heree we \\e e \ se had bad hidden our rations my toeswere toes toeswere toeswere were all bleed bleeding mg . . We dropped some pepper , just in lD case they theyput theyput theyput put bloodhounds on us , put on our shoes , and trn tras tra\cled tra cled : \ eled Bled all wght night night"They nightThey . " They had started on Monday night mght , , March 6 They traveled un an until . til hI Friday , crossing crossmg ploughed fields , sliding down gullies , scrambling scramblmg over overrocks overrocks overrocks rocks and climbing cIunbIng hills lulls , moving movmg always by rught-hldmg rught hldmg night-hiding night hiding night - - hiding in the woods woodsby woodsby woodsby by day . "By By " that time , " says John , "our our " feet were very sore and because becauseof beginningto of our short ratIonse rations ' " we "e e \e e \ were ravenously hungry . . Emil was begInnIng to worry-to worry to worry - to say that if 1f his hlS wife 'viIe viIe ' w e died he hoped he be would die hImselt himself himselfbefore hImseltbefore himselfbefore before he knew it By Sunday night mght we were ready to drop , , and to make makematters makematters makematters matters matters'worse \ ' worse \'worse 'worse 'tiorse tiorse ' we didn't didnt duin't duint ' come across a drop of water . By morningmy mornmg morning mornmgmy morningmy my tongue was hke l1ke like leather . . The biscuits bIscwts we carried were so dry we wecould wecould wecould could hardly swallow themNo them themNo No Water for Forty-eight Forty eight - - Hours . Monday mght-and mght and night-and night night - and still no water They hadn't hadnt ' ' had a drop in forteIght tort torteight fort- fort forty- forty fortyeight ) -eight eight - eIght hours and they were \ weakening eakenIng \ fast They lay in the woods Tues Tues- Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday - day , , hardly speaking a word all day . But once Emil said sald . "I I " have bave a feel feel- feelmg feeling feeling - ing mg that I will soon see my wife wlfe " What he meant by that , , he didn't didnt ' ' say say.Tuesday sayTuesday . Tuesday night rught they stumbled into mto a herd of wild pigs . . "Wemade "We We "Wemade "Wemade Wemade " made for a tree , climbed into it and stayed there , " says John John"for Johnfor , , "for for " we had heard of prisoners being bemg severely bitten by theseanImals theseanimals these theseanimals animals . The pigs had bad laid us treed for two hours . When they left lert it itWas itwas itwas Was almost daylight dayltght , so we decided to 'emam emam remam remain ' vhere where whereVe we \Ve Ve \ were . . "When When " the sun came up , there , close to the edge of the woods , was wasa wasa wasa a stream We made a rush for it Emil Em1l stumbled , fell In and got wetAfter wet wetAfter wetAfter After we drank and filled our bottles , we went back to the woods agaIn , againbut but Emil was wet and chilled through We dared not light a fire , , so soEmIl soEmil soEmil EmIl wrung his clothes out and made the best of it . . By that time bme he was wasgetting \ wasgetting as getting ttmg desperate and I had a job to keep him from wandering through throughvIllages throughvillages throughvillages vIllages instead ot of going around them . Gave Up to Try to Save Sick Pal . "Saturday Saturday " was our twelfth day . . Emil was raving about his wIfe wIfeand wifeand wifeand and staggering like a drunken man , but according to our figures we wewere , wewere . e ewere were only about five kilometers from the border . We threw away ev- ev everythIng everything ev everything - erything alongthe we had , for we would have to crawl past the patrols along the boundary . " But they only traveled a mile or two that night mght On Sunday EmIl EmIlwas Emilwas Emilwas was out of his head , laughing laughmg one minute and crying erymg the next "I I " used usedour usedour usedour our " ' water 'ater ater to bathe his head , " says John . . "It It " was like l1ke a furnace He Heasked Heasked Heasked asked me to leave him , and to quiet him wm I said all right I shook hands handssaid , saId good bye , walked wal1.ed wal1ed . out to the road and gave myself up to a abIcycle abicycle abicycle bIcycle patrol patrol"I "I I " took them back to get Emit Emil , and he was unconscious "lien lien "lienwe ' " whenwe hen henwe we got there . They got him Ium out to a hospital , where he dIed dIedthe diedthe diedthe the justtwo next morning . The officer of the patrol told me we were just justtwo justtwo two kilos from the border , but I felt more sorrow for the Joss loss Jossof lossof lossof of my buddy Emil than I did for lor my freedom freedom"John freedomJohn . , " John tells me he came eame out of the war WI with th four medals . . And I Iwonder Iwonder Iwonder wonder if I.f . he got one for the most heroic thing he ever did in his life- life lifepassIng lifepassing life - - passing up that short , two kilometer stretch to freedom to stick by asick asIck a asick sick paLDWNU palWNU pal palWNU . D-WNU D WNU - -WNU WNU - Service . |