Show fl rl A ati A A n t hiie A h H rl an woof WT ar inh W U ayi it 1 B a by lieutenant LIEUTENAN T PAT OBRIEN 1918 by rat alva alra obrien FROM A PRISON CAMP OBRIEN WATCHES LAST FIGHT AND FATAL FALL OF HIS CHUM PAUL RANEY synopsis int ilat Oll rien a resident of momence Mo Blonie mence nep ni ili seeing service in the Atner american ican thing flying corp chips 4 on tho the Alex mexican ican border bonier in ili 1010 1910 joins the british royal flying corps lit in rind after it 11 brief train ine inc period Is sent to france liels assigned to a squadron in active service on oil the front lie ile engages in several hot fights with german flyers from which itoi lie nerges victorious finally in it fight with ith four german flyers obrien Is shot down own ile he fulls falls feet and escaping death ly by a int awakes awake to find himself it prisoner lit in a germen hospital hospit nl with a 11 bullet hole biolo in III ills mouth CHAPTER IV continued 1 1 when my chui enemy first started his conversation with nio me the goiman german doctor in charge reprimanded him for talking to me but lie ho paid no attention to the doctor showing that sonic bonie real americanism anid ili soaked into his system while he hall had been in ili the U S A I 1 asked him one lay day whit what lie thought the ilia german people would ilo do after the war if lie he thought they would anke germany a republic and much to my surprise lie he sald mild very bitterly it if I 1 aind had my lily wity about it I 1 would make her a republic today and hang filing tha dd d d kalser kaiser in the bargain and yet lie wits was considered in iiii excellent soldier I 1 concluded however that he be must have been a 11 german socialist though he never told me so ho on one occasion basked I 1 asked him for its ids name but lie w said that I 1 would probably pio bably never see him again and it t matter what his name was I 1 lid did not know whether lie he meant that lint the Cern germans inns would starve stane me out or just what was on its his itil mind tid for at that time I 1 ain sure lie till did not figure on dying the first two or three days dais I 1 was in the hospital I 1 thought surely lie he would be up and gone long before I 1 was hut but blood poisoning set in about dint time and just a few hours before I 1 left for courtsal Court Cour trai ral lie he died one of those lays davs while my wound was still very troublesome I 1 was given an apple whether it was just to torment roe knowing that I 1 could not cat it or whether for some other leason I 1 do not know but anyway a german tiding officer there hall had several la in his pockets find and gave gao me a nice one of course there was no chance of mi lily eating it so when the officer had gone and I 1 discovered this san F francisco ran cisco fellow looking nt at it rather longingly I 1 picked it up intending to toss it over to him but lie ho shook his lead head and said if this was son francisco I 1 would take it but I 1 cannot take it from you here I 1 was never able to understand just why he refused the apple for ho he was usually sociable and at a good fellow to talk to but apparently lie he could not forget that I 1 was ills his enemy Ilo however wever that dill did not stop one of the orderlies from eating the apple one practice about the hospital impressed presse tile me particularly that was lerman if a geiman soldier did not stand nuch lucli chance of recovering sufficiently to take his place again in the war tile the doctors did not exert themselves to see that he got well but if a ninn man had a fairly good chance of recovering anti and they thought ho he might be of some further use gery thing that medical skill could possibly do was done for him I 1 dont know whether tins this was done under orders or whether the doctors just followed their own inclinations in such cases my bly teeth had been badly jarred up tip from the shot and I 1 hoped that I 1 might have a chance to havo have them fixed when I 1 reached courtsal Court Cour ral trai the prison where I 1 was to be taken so I 1 asked the doctor if it would bo be possible for roe me to have this work done there but lio lie very curtly told me that although there were several dentists at cour aral they were busy enough fixing the teeth of their own men without bothering about mine lie he also added that I 1 would not have to worry about my teeth that I 1 be petting getting so much food that they would ile DO put but of commission by working overtime I 1 wanted to tell him that from tho the way things looked he would not bo be wearing his out very soon either sly bly condition improved during the next two days and on the fourth lay day of my iny captivity I 1 was well enough to write a brief message to my illy equay ron reporting that I 1 was a prisoner of war and feeling fine although as aa 11 matter of fact I 1 was never sp so 10 lo de bressel ur essel in my life I 1 realized however low that if tho the message readied reached my comrades it would be relayed to my mother in momence Mo mence e ill and I 1 did riot not want to worry her more than was absolutely solli sol tely necessary it was wag enouf enough it for her to know that I 1 wits was a prisoner site she did not hae to know that I 1 was wounded I 1 ind hopes that my message would be carried over th the a lines and dropped by one of the german flying officers that la is a courtesy couram ay which la Is usually practiced en both sides 1 I recalled how patiently we had waited in our for news of our men who had failed to lo return and I 1 could picture my illy adron speculating on my fate radt Is one of the saddest things connected with service lit la the it II F C you dont care car much what happens ito you ou hut but the alie constant casualties among your friends tire very depressing you go out with your flight and get into a muss inuss you get scattered and when your sour formation Is broken up you finally wing your our way wn homo home alone perhaps you ou ore are tile the first to land soon another machine mac lilno shows allows in the sky then si nother and you iou patiently wait for the rest to within tin an hour perhaps till nil have shown up save one and you ou begin to speculate anti and wonder what has happened to him lins lie lost ills his was ilas he landed tit nt romo other airdrome did tho ilia huns ilens get him film when darkness comes you sou realize that tit at any ally rate lie he wont be back that night and you hope for a telephone call from him telling of ills his it the he night passes without sign or word from him lie Is reported as missing and then you ou watch for his casualty to appear fit the war office omat lists one day dai perli perhaps nils a month later a message Is dropped over tho the line by the german flying corps with a list of pilots captured or killed by the nuns huns und then for the ilia list first time you know definitely why it was sotir bour comrado comrade failed to return the lay dai he last went over the line with his squadron I 1 was still musing over this melancholy phase of the scouts life when tin nn orderly told me there was a beautiful battle going on in the air and lie volunteered to help me outside tile hospital that I 1 might witness it and I 1 readily accepted his assistance that afternoon I 1 saw one of tile camest gamest lights fights I 1 ever expect to witness there I 1 here wire were six of our machines against perhaps sixteen huns from the type or of the machines I 1 knew that they might possibly ile be from my illy own acro diome two of our machines had been apparently picked out by six of the huns and were bearing the brunt of tile fight the contest seemed to me inc to bo be so BO unequal that victory for our men was hardly to bo be thought of and yet set at one time they so completely outmaneuvered the ilens that I 1 thought their superior skill shill might sae the day for them despite the fact that they were so po hopelessly outnumbered ono one thing I 1 was sure of they woul never give in of course it would have been a com om simple matter for our men when saw how things were going against them to have turned their noses down landed behind the german lines ant and given themselves up as prisoners but that Is not the way of the 11 F 0 A brittle battle of tills this kind seldom lasts many minutes although every second seems like nn an hour to those who participate te in it and even onlookers suffer more booro thrills in tho the course of the struggle than they would ordinarily experience in a lifetime it Is apparent even to a novice that tho the losers fate Is death of course tho ilia germans around the hospital were all watching and rooting for their comrades but the english too lind had one sympathizer in that group who nade made no effort to stifle its his admiration for the bravery his countrymen were displaying tho the end came suddenly four machines crashed to earth almost simultaneously it was an even break two of theirs and two of ours the others apparently returned to their respective lines lilies the wound in my mouth made it impossible for me ilia to appeal but by means of a pencil and paper I 1 requested one of the german off officers leers to find out for me mb who the english officers were who had led been shot down A little later inter lie he returned and handed tile me a photograph taken from the body of one of ilia victims it was a picture of paul raney of toronto and myself taken together I 1 apor ifancy I 1 lie ile was tile the best friend friend I 1 had and one of the lilt best and camest gamest men who ever fought in france it was ho he I 1 learned long after who when I 1 was reported missing hall had checked over all my illy belongings and sent thern them back to england with a signed memorandum which Is now in my iny possession poor fellow ho he little realized then that but a day or two arler lie he would bo be engaged in his last heroic battle with mo me a helpless onlooker look er I 1 tho the panic german on lir who brought me the photograph 1 I else drew a map for me of the exact spot where aandy was burled buried in flanders I 1 guarded it carefully all through my subsequent adventures and nally finally fl i turned it over to its ills father and mother when I 1 visited them in toronto to per 20 asis asies 1 I LO B aj KII K I I y eliout S SR R reported aliann 17 Q 8 17 PM in n a 3 duits lt l V t I 1 X tt 4 Ves veata tIta 4 pro pra pan ta 3 2 pro pra I 1 night shirt 9 toselo I 1 pr shorts I 1 pr 11 a pro pra Bree cheso 3 1 pr I 1 strap 1 suit civilian clothes 1 I bolt belt I 1 tunic 1 1 american fanlo 1 pr ankle boong 1 british warm coat 3 rr pr goggles I 1 sam browne arp no bolt belt I 1 cane I 1 box 3 blankets C r ng no ho 65 56 squadron royal flying corps photograph of official clat memorandum giving an inventory of the personal belongings of lieutenant obrien which were turned over to lieutenant raney when obrien was reported missing on august 17 1917 form the hardest and saddest duty I 1 I 1 am ave 0 ever boon been called upon to execute to confirm to them in ili person the tidings of poor pauls death the other british pilot who fell wits was also from my squadron and a man I 1 knew well lieutenant keith of australia I 1 lind ind given him a picture of myself only a few hours before I 1 start ed cd on roy my own disastrous night flight lie ile was one of the ilia star etar pilots of our squadron and had been in ili ranny many a desperate battle before but this time the odds odda were too grent great for him ile he put up a wonderful fight tint and lie ho gave gae as much ns as lie took the next two lays days passed without incident and I 1 was wai then taken to tile tho intelligence department of the german flying corps corob which was located about nn an hour from the hospital there I 1 wits was kept two days das luring during which time they put lilt a thousand and ono questions to inc while I 1 was there I 1 turned over to them the message I 1 hall written in ili the hospital and asked them thein to have am 0 one of their flyers drop it on our side of tho the line they asked roe me where I 1 would like to have hao it dropped thinking perhaps I 1 would give my lily airdrome away but when I 1 smiled and shook my lien licad they did not insist upon nn an answer 1 I drop it over declared one of them naming my airdrome which revealed to me inc that their flying niang corps Is as as other branches of tho ilia arvice in the ilia matter of obtaining able information and right here I 1 want to eny that the more I 1 came to know of the enemy the more keenly I 1 realized what a difficult task were going to have to lick ilia in ili all my subsequent experiences the fact that there la is a heap of fight left in the huns flung still was thoroughly brought home to me wo we shall win the war eventually if we nye dont slow blow up tip too soon in tho mistaken idea that the huns are ready to lie down the flying officers who questioned me ilia were extremely anxious to find out all they could about the part america Is going to play in ili tile tho war but they evidently came to the conclusion that america taken me very deeply into her confidence judging from ilia ho information they got or failed to get from me at tiny any rate they gave roe me up as a bad job and I 1 was ordered to the boffl officers prison at Court Courtr mi nl belgium CHAPTER V the prison camp at courtna Cour tra from the intelligence I 1 was vas conveyed to the dryson arson camp at Court courteal Courtr ral nl in nn an rl it was about an all hour do le ty was one of the he abs acra flyers in fit the world horld ld barring nune lie was A as later killed in action but I 1 was fold fod by nn fill 1 anglish airman who witnessed Witness etl ills 1114 last combat that he fought a garn gara battle and died a heros heres death the arl on n which had evidently been a civil prison of some kind before ilia war was located right in the heart of courtsal Court Cour ral trai the first building wo we up ap preached vas large and in front of the archway which formed the main entrance was war a n sentry box here we were challenged by the entry centry who knocked on the dor the guard turned the ley key in tho the lock and I 1 was admitted we passed through if the archway and directly into n courtyard on which faced nil all of the prison buildings the ilia windows clows of course being heavily barred after I 1 had and given my pedigree my lily name nee age address ete etc I 1 ans shown to a cell with bars on oil tile windows overlooking tills this courtyard I 1 was promptly told that tit nt night we were to occupy these rooms but I 1 had already surveyed ilia surroundings taken account bt bf the number of guards and tho the locked door outside and concluded that my chances of getting betting away from borne soni cother other place could bp be no worse than in that particular cell As I 1 bad no lint my helmet being the only anly thing I 1 had worn over the lie lines I 1 was compelled either to KO go bareheaded or wear the red cap of the ilia whom I 1 had shot down clown on that memorable day it can bo be imagined how bow I 1 looked attired in n dalt ish uniform and a bright red cap call wherever I 1 avas taken my lily aroused considerable curlest curiosity ty among tho belgians and german soldiers when I 1 tir arrived rived tit nt prison that lay day I 1 still wore tills this cap and ns as I 1 was waa taken into the courtyard my overcoat covering lily uniform all that tho ilia british officers who happened to bo be sunning themselves lit in tile courtyard could see sec was tile red cap they afterwards told nio nie they wondered who the hue allun was with ilia bandage on its ills mouth this cap I 1 managed to keep with inc but was never allowed to year wear it on tile walks walk walksie swe wo took I 1 either cither went bareheaded or borrowed a cup cap from some romo other prisoner at certain hours bours each day the prisoners |