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Show ifisToTT FRENCH AVIATOR Pilots Machine Back to France Through Storm of Shells After Left Foot Had Been Severed. Paris, April 22. :20 a. m A story telling of the heroism of an aviator described as D M , ' whose father fa-ther was killed in one of the first engagements of the war, has been sent to the Petit Journal by a correspondent with the northern army. ar-my. "De M." was sent with a sergeant to bombard a corner of the Belgian coast where the Germans had been showing exceptional activity. They had to pass over a region where Roland Ro-land Garros accomplished his most sensational exploits and where the Germans had installed a hundred an ti-aircraft guns. The aeroplane was piloted safelv through a storm of shells while the sergeant dropped bombs according to instructions and then turned towards the French line3, rising to a height of nine thousand feet to avoid the hail of shrapnel. Suddenly a German shell smashed the front wheels and hurtled through the machine, severing the aviator's left foot. The aeroplane began to plunce downward but "De M." grit- ieu ins teem uu ngnteu ine macuine. keeping it headed towards the camp. The sergeant, who thought they were done for supported the pilot with his left arm while with his right he started start-ed to pencil a farewell letter to his mother They still had fifteen miles to fly to reach a place of safety. "Shall I take the helm'"' asked the sergeant. "No, no. yo'J trust to rae We'll get back to France all right. ' was "Ds M 's" reply. The sergeant then abandoned his letter writing and supported the pilot with both arms. "De M." stuck to his task and took the machine safely back to the starting place and crawled out unaided through the hole made by the German projectile. Not until he reached the hospital at Zuy-dcote Zuy-dcote did he faint. |