Show Flight in the Dark fly IT FLOYD GIBBONS JOIN JOliN F. F MEEHAN of White Plains N. N Y Yf tells today's J story the story the tale of five men who planned an escape from froma a 11 German prison camp John went to France early in 1914 with the British forces The late winter of ot 1 1917 17 found him in the German concentration camp near Cassel and ancl in December of that same year he was sent with twenty ther ether prisoners to a work camp near Bebra Debra a few miles away awal John found round himself cutting wood in a gang with three Canadians and a Frenchman Frenchman French French- man named Emil and those five men planned an nn escape It took look them from December to March to get ready Most Moat of the food lood sent them from home they gave o a away to bribe their guards to get them things they needed needed needed-a a compass and a map of III tile the territory The rest of the food they hoarded boarded B By the sixth of March they had their plans perfected and were ready to make the break They had hidden their food supply in canvas bags in the woods and they Judged that in twelve days of night travel Ira vel they could cover the hundred and end thirty kilometers that lay between them Ulem and the Dutch border Only Three Could Attempt the Flight According Accor to their plan only three of them could escape That afternoon after noon the they drew lots to see who would remain behind In the meantime Emil the Frenchman had received a letter from home saying that his wife wits very ill lie He begged to be allowed to go 10 and the others ethers consented When the lots were drawn John Meehan Emil and Jack Burman one of the Canadians were the ones chosen to make the attempt Each night the prisoners were Vere locked In their huts leaving their shoes outside the door Regularly at eight o'clock a guard of 01 two soldiers made the tho rounds On this night as ac they opened the door to check the tho occupants of the hut hat John lived In a fight started between two of the Canadians One guard stepped Inside to stop atop It It IL Someone tripped him lie He we went lit down yelling for theother theother the theother other guard As the other guard lUard came in the door there was a crash of broken crockery In an instant both guards lards and both Canadians were rolling together on the floor And in the midst of the confusion John EmU Emil and Jack Burman Bunnan dashed out of the door snatched up a pair of shoes each and were dashing across the yard hundred wide clearing toward the woods on the other side Had to Leave Their Wounded Comrade More guards came running up says John They took pot shots at us as we went We were almost to the edge of ot the woods when they The Pursuers Stopped When They Found Jack got Jack in the leg I stopped to pick him up but he told me he couldn't go on We left him there and ran for the woods Our pursuers stopped when the they found Jack We Ve stumbled on for another hundred yards in our stocking feet red and by the tune time we got ot to the place where we had hidden bidden our rations my toes were all aU bleeding We dropped some lome pepper Just In case they put bloodhounds on us put on our shoes and traveled all aU DI night ht They had started on Monday night March 0 6 They traveled until un til Ul Friday crossing ploughed fields sliding down gullies scrambling over rocks and climbing hills moving always by night night hiding hiding in the woods woodsby woodsby woodsby by day By that time says John our feet were very sore and because of our short hort rations we were ravenously hungry Emil was beginning to worry worry worry-to to say that if his wife wile died he hoped he would die himself before he knew it By Sunday night we were ready to drop and to make matters worse we didn't come across a drop of water By morning my tongue was like leather The biscuits we carried were so dry we could hardly swallow them No Water for Forty-eight Forty Hours Monday night night and and still sUll no water They hadn't had a drop in forty forty- eight hours bours and they were weakening fast They lay in the woods Tuesday Tuesday Tues day hardly speaking a B word all aU day But once Emil said I have a feeling feel ing that I will soon see my wife What he meant by that he didn't say Tuesday night they stumbled Into a herd of 01 wild pigs pip We Ve made for a tree climbed Into It and stayed there says John for we bad had heard of 01 prisoners belD being severely bitten by these animals The pigs had us treed for two hours bourl When they left ItI It I was almost daylight so we decided to remain where we were When the sun came up there close to the edge of the tho woods was wasa I a stream We made a rush for it Emil stumbled fell in and got wet After we drank and filled our bottles we went back to the woods again but Emil was wet and chilled through We dared not light a fire so Emil wrung his clothes out and made the best of It It By that time he ho was getting desperate and end I had a job jab to keep him from wandering through villages instead of going around them Gave Up to Try to Save Sick Pal Saturday was our twelfth day EmU Emil was raving about his wile wife and staggering like a drunken man but according to our figures we wo were only about live five kilometers from the border We threw away everything ev we had for tor we would have to crawl past the patrols along the boundary But they only traveled a mile mUe or two that night On Sunday Emil was out of his head laughing one minute and crying the next I 1 used our water to bathe his head bead says John It was like a furnace He asked me to leave him and to quiet him I said all right I shook hands said good bye walked out to the road and gave ave myself up to a bicycle patrol I 1 took them back to ret let Emil and he was unconscious when we got ot there The They got rot him out ont to a hospital where be he died the next morning The officer of or the patrol told me we were Just two kilos from the border but I felt leU more sorrow for the tho loss lose of my buddy EmU Emil than I did for my freedom John tells me he be came out of the war with four tour medals medal And I Iwonder Iwonder Iwonder wonder if he got cot one for the most heroic thing he ever did in his life- life passing up that short hort two kilometer stretch to freedom to stick by a asick asick asick sick paL O D Service |