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Show AMERICAN HERO, DESPITE LOSS OF FEET, QUALIFIES AS AN AIRMAN Atlanta Man Fought With Dublin Fusileers Until Injured Later He Was Made a Flight Commander in the British Air Service and Was Going Big Until He Was Captured by the Huns. mander. He mentioned more thar, once that he regretted his inability to serve his own country when we entered en-tered the war, but his physical defect barred him. And he wnnted to keep right on fighting the Boche, so he remained re-mained In the British service. "I was very eager to see him and to congratulate him on his success, but had to defer the visit owing to the activities of the British army. It so happened that I selected the day following the most dramatic day in Holleran's career, but I was too late. "Motoring to the squadron .1 found English and Canadian and American aviators in a spirited game of baseball. base-ball. I asked for Captain Holleran. A fellow shouted to a lieutenant who was playing second base. The lieutenant lieu-tenant caine up panting. He said ; 'Captain Holleran is gone.' 'Gone?' I reiterated. 'What do you mean? He isn't dead, is he?' " 'No. Taken prisoner by the Boche yesterday. I roomed and chummed with him. Gang miss him terribly. Happened like this : We went on a daylight bombing raid. Holleran led the flight. Before we started he remarked re-marked that he had a sort of pre sentiment something was going t happen to him. Our bombing trip was a success. We had orders to fly low on the return and machine-gun certain positions. Ran into heavy enemy en-emy fire. Holleran's machine was hit. He went down inside the enemy lines. " 'We could see him waving to us, Then we saw Bodies surround htm with leveled guns and tsaw Hoi's arras go up.' I "Can you beat it for a melodramatic melodramat-ic last scene?" asked Captain Lowry. I "Holleran was captured on Sunday, September 15. A game kid. Pity they j got him." bllghty. He was at Cliveden hospital, hos-pital, maintained by Mrs. Astor. He was fitted out with artificial feet there. When It came time to think about sending Holleran back to the states the case was referred to me. But Owen Cobb Holleran did not intend in-tend to go home. He said anybody who thought his fighting days were over just because he had game feet bad another guess. "He said he had read about a new type of airplane while at the hospital. hos-pital. It was operated entirely by hand levers, which fact gave him an inspiration. He aid he had given the matter much thought on his cot and while sunning himself in n wheel chair'. He had finally resolved to become be-come an aviator and he felt confident he could make good. "The next thing I heard about Holleran Hol-leran he was a full-fledged flyer In the British air force. He made good from the si art. One day a very large and official-looking envelope came to me. It contained the honorable discharge dis-charge of Owen Cobb Holleran from the Dublin Fusileers. It had been sent by the colonel of the regiment, who wrote very flatteringly about the young American. I hadn't seen or heard from Holleran for months. I finally learned . the location of his squadron and forwarded the army certificate. Physical Defect Barred Him. "A few days later I received a cheerful letter thanking me and inviting invit-ing me to dine with him at my earliest convenience at the squadron mess. You could have knocked me over with a feather when, at the end of the letter let-ter I read that Owen Cobb Holleran was now a captain and flight com- With American Army in France. Loss of one foot and part of the other oth-er did not end the fighting career of Owen Cobb Holleran of Atlnntn, Ga. A man with artificial feet is unlit for infantry duty, so Owen was honorably discharged from that branch of the service. Being a soldier of fortune Holleran refused "to be dumped on the army scrap heap," as he expressed ex-pressed it. In spite of his physical handicap he wormed his way into the British air service, won a pilot's license, operating operat-ing a type of plane that did not require re-quire foot manipulation, became a lieu- j tenant, captain and flight commander, j Some climb for a fellow with wooden feet, but not surprising if you knew Hol'eran. He had all sorts of thrills and adventures, and then one day but I am getting ahead of my story. Better let Capt. E. G. Lowry tell it as he told it to me on a rainy night while I was with the British army. He was attached to the American Amer-ican embassy in London before entering enter-ing ti..e United States army. It was while ct the London embassy that he first htd the case of Owen Cobb Hoi- j leran es tied to his attention. Captain I Lowry's home aiso is in Atlanta. Stranger Than Fiction. "There is material for a book In Holleran's experience," said Captain Lowry. "Stranger' thai fiction In spots. His papers came to me at the embassy and he has kept up a correspondence. corre-spondence. There is a lot in the chap. He is as clever and brave as they make them. He was employed as a clerk in the office of the Southern Bell Telephone company in Atlanta. Like many other young Americans he I wanted to see the great war. It got into his blood long before our country coun-try was involved. In 1915 he started out from Atlanta with a friend named Gray. They had just $100 between them for the big adventure. They went to New York and tried to enlist-in enlist-in the British army, but the consul said he couldn't enroll Americans. "Prom a crossing policeman they learned that a cattle boat was to sail next day.' They decided to work their passage. They applied and got: the job. Reaching London, they w-ere accepted ac-cepted at a recruiting station in Scotland Scot-land Yard. The recruiting sergeant , wanted to know what branch of the service they preferred, Holleran replied re-plied : 'No choice. Just as soon serve in one branch as the other. My only request is that you send us to a warm climate. I came from the South and 1 like it hot.' "'You can get it hot enough at any part of the front,' replied the sergeant. ser-geant. T.see your point, lad. and we'll see A'hat can be done. With a name liko yours I think an Irish outfit out-fit is the place for you.' Holleran was .assigned to the Dublin Fusileers. His friend Gray went to the same regiment regi-ment In n few months Holleran's regiment was sent to Gallipoli. He served through that campaign and saw-hard saw-hard fighting. The regiment went with other British units to Egypt to he refitted after the Gallipoli scrap. Feet Badly Frozen. "Next Holleran went with the Dub-1 UbI Fusileers into Serbia with the first i allied expedition. In the mountains many 'of the soldiers suffered from I frozen feet aQd hands. Holleran's 1 feet were badly frozen, and he told me with a grin that he couldn't help seeing the funrj side of it after having hav-ing asked to be sent to a hot place. "Fate began to extend a helping band to Holleran away out there. Attached At-tached to the British field hospital in Serbia were two American surgeons, one from Georgia and the other from South Carolina. Learning that Holleran Hol-leran hailed from Atlanta, they took special interest In him. They did everything possible to save his feet, but, later, to avoid more serious complications com-plications and possibly death, they amputated part of each foot. "Holleran returned to England, |