Skip to main content

May 22, 1918 - Marking time till Commodore Bennett's funeral

Don Martin diary entry for Wednesday, May 22, 1918: 
Just marking time till the funeral tomorrow. Spent most of the afternoon at the office reading. Had dinner at Prunier’s. Then during evening walked through Tuilleries, along the Seine etc. Paris is no doubt a wonderful city. Then spent the evening sitting around the hotel waiting for an air raid which hasn’t come.
Weather continues very hot.
          Another good story about American aviators, dated Wednesday, May 22, was published in the New York Herald on May 23.  
7 American aces among heroes 
as yet unsung
Brilliant Birdmen to Flash from Obscurity 
as Soon as They Down Foe
ALL ALEADY HAVE A BRILLIANT RECORD
Douglas Campbell, 22 Years Old, Is Wizard of Air,
with Two Victims to His Credit
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent of the New York Herald with the American Army in France
[Special Cable to the Herald]
AMERICAN FRONT IN FRANCE, Wednesday
             The death of Major Lufbery following the capture of Captain Norman Hall, also the destruction by the Americans of several Hun airplanes, draws attention to the fact that American flyers are rapidly getting into action along important parts of the line. Major Lufbery’s death is a saddening blow, but the young sportsmen of the air take it as a mere incident of the game where death is always matching with victory.
             Heavily in the Americans’ favor are the many snappy youngsters of the air service, who say they hope the Huns will send all they have against them. There are seven crackerjack birdmen in our outfit whose praises are yet unsung because they have brought down no enemy, but not many months will pass before America will have more aces like France and Britain in plenty.
             Among the youngsters here is Douglas Campbell, who is developing swiftly into a wizard and has two machines to his credit. He comes from California. He is only twenty-two, but has limitless courage and skill and the utmost modesty. He won’t talk, saying he is here to fight, not to talk.
Major Lufbery Free Lance of Air
              Major Lufbery was a remarkable character. He was envied and loved by all flyers and no doubt was one of the most daring and skillful men in the business. Some intimates called him “Lone Star” because he flew by himself as a sort of free lance of the air and went where he wished under his own command.
             It was nothing unusual for him to fly for hours over the German lines, fighting his way home if necessary, or on encountering a squad of the enemy easily manoeuvring to safety. There was no trick that he could not do. Other flyers were usually escorted when starting upon an especially hazardous flight. Not so with Major Lufbery. The confidence of this pals was so great that they had no fear, only sometimes a worry that his machine would go wrong, as it probably did Sunday, or that he would be surprised by a bevy of enemy machines.
        Recently his engines went bad when far over the German line, with the prospects of return as a very dark outlook. But Lufbery, though pursued by German flyers, guided his crippled machine so skillfully he was able to alight just inside our own line. I saw him when he returned. He said:--“It was nothing to talk about.” That was he, though the whole of his career was spectacular.
               The thrilling romance of his life was being written by Captain Hall, his chum in the barracks and also in the air. How much progress had been made is unknown. It is the hope of all that Captain Hall had the record in good shape, else it will be a tremendous loss. It also is hoped that Major Lufbery had given the full details of his career to Captain Hall. It is most singular that a man so picturesque and also his biographer should be such early victims of the Huns.
Lufbery’s Story Wonderful
              Captain Hall told me a month ago that Lufbery’s story was wonderful and that he expected to write it more fully after the war.

           Everywhere there is talk of Curtis Tilton’s offer, through the European edition of the Herald, of 5,000f. in prizes to American flyers, followed by a duplicate offer from the Duke and Duchesse Talleyrand, through the Herald.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 14, 1918: Don Martin’s funeral service in Paris

        A funeral service for Don Martin was held in Paris on Sunday, October 13, 1918, at the American Church, rue de Berri. The New York Herald published this report on Monday, October 14, 1918. MANY FRIENDS AT CHURCH SERVICE FOR DON MARTIN Simplicity and Sincerity of Character of “Herald” Writer, Theme of Dr. Goodrich’s Sermon                     Funeral services for Don Martin were held yesterday afternoon in the American Church in the rue de Berri. They were simple and impressive. Before the pulpit rested the coffin, over which was spread the American flag. Floral offerings were arranged around it. Flat against the wall behind the pulpit were two American flags and the tricolor, and on either side were standards of these two emblems. Uniforms of the United States army predominated in the gathering of 200 persons composed of friends Mr. Martin had known for years at home and friends he had made in France. The depth and beauty of character which drew these old and new
2 comments
Read more

Welcome to Don Martin blog on Armistice Centennial Day

Welcome to the World War I Centennial Don Martin daily blog, on Armistice Centennial day, November 11, 2018. Don Martin was a noted war correspondent reporting on the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1918. Regrettably he died of Spanish influenza in Paris on October 7,1918, while covering the Argonne Forest offensive. He missed the joy of the Armistice by a month. Beginning on December 7, 2017, this blog has chronicled each day what Don Martin wrote one hundred years earlier – in his diary, in his letters home, and in his multitude of dispatches published in the Herald newspaper, both the New York and the European (Paris) editions. The blog, for the several days following his death, recounts the many tributes published, his funeral in Paris and his trip back to his final resting place at his home in Silver Creek, New York. To access the daily blogs, click on the three red lines at top right, then in the fold-down menu, click on Archive. There are 316 blogs from D
1 comment
Read more

October 17, 2018: Final Salute to Don Martin, Soldier of the Pen

          We have reached the end of the Don Martin World War I centennial memorial blog. Starting on December 7, 2017, this daily blog has chronicled, in 315 postings, the remarkable story of my grandfather’s contribution to the Great War.               This blog was possible because of the availability of my grandfather Don Martin’s diaries and his letters to my mother, and his published writings in the New York and Paris Herald.             We have followed him from leading political reporter of the New York Herald at the end of 1917, to head of its London office in January-March 1918, and then to France as accredited war correspondent covering the American Expeditionary Forces, based first in Neufchateau, then in Meaux, Nancy and finally for a few days in Bar le Duc. And then, his final return to his hometown in Silver Creek, New York. Don Martin has given us a full and insightful, if grim, picture of the Great War, as witnessed by the American war correspondents. We have seen
1 comment
Read more