Don
Martin diary entry for Thursday, May 2, 1918:
Wrote a few mail stories. At 2, with [F. J.] Taylor [United Press] and Lieut. Reynolds,
motored to aviation field near Toul and got story of German plane brought down
by young [James A.] Meissner of Brooklyn. Got
back at 6:30. Wrote good story for Paris. Cabled 250 words to New York. Spent
evening at the club. Gregg [St. Louis World], [John T.] Parkerson [Associated Press] and [Bert] Ford [International News Service] leaving for the French front.
Most of the other correspondents are back here.
Wrote to Mr. Bennett.
My 320 franc watch has refused to run.
Quiet in the North. Germans apparently preparing
for another assault.
First good day in weeks.
The Meissner air war story, dated May 2, was published
in the New York Herald on May 3.
Brooklyn Man Downs Air Foe
In Lofty Fight
Lieutenant James A.
Meissner in Battle
as Pershing Forces Look On
CRASHES WITH ENEMY AS
HE POURS IN FIRE
German Machine Falls
in Flames
and Is Fourth Bagged by Americans at Toul
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent of the Herald With the American Army in France
[Special Cable to the Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Thursday
The brilliant maneuvering of a
Brooklyn Flatbush youth, Lieutenant James A. Meissner, brought his victory over
a German swift Albatross aeroplane over the Hun line edge of the American
sector. Meissner is a graduate of Cornell, 1918 class. He is the most modest of
all the fliers and also most skillful. He was complimented on his cleverness by
such veterans as [Raoul] Lufbery.
French and American soldiers
who saw the daring attack and his wonderful escape from a situation which would
have tried the mettle and skill of the oldest aviator cheered him and later
gave him a warm reception.
The Meissner boy caught the
Hum at a trick the Boche had been using to play on the sportsmanship of
Americans and the French. When pursued they explode a smoke bomb which is
entirely new, then flutter down, expecting the foe to start home, when they
make a quick attack on the sympathetic aviator.
Meissner was ready for this.
The Boche fired a smoke bomb and fluttered down a thousand feet, giving the
impression that his machine was wrecked and crashing earthward, but the young
Cornell man swooped after, firing 200 shots as he went. The Hun righted in a
slant and attacked. The airplanes were so close that their wings crashed
together. Meissner never stopped during the firing, but kept at it till he saw
the Boche machine break in flames and genuinely start earthward.
The plunge was complete and
the wreck fell just inside the German line. By skillful work Meissner guided
his machine, with one wing almost gone, to his own lines. I saw him half an
hour later and found the blushing boy proud of his achievement.
“I did the best I could,” he
said. “The Hun was tricky, that’s all.” The American got it on him. There are
plenty of boys in Flatbush who could lick him on the ground with fists or
bayonets.
A veteran flier, listening,
said:-- “You’re a great kid,” then, turning to the others, the veteran said as
the flatbush kid blushed:-- “He’s a great kid, boys; call him ‘the rat,’
because he’s a sticker; twenty-one and afraid of nothing that ever walked or
flew.”
Don Martin’s letter of May 2 to Commodore James Gordon Bennett includes complaints about the censorship and insights on the competition
between the American war correspondents to “beat’ the others.
Dear
Sir:
... I have remained here with the
main army, believing that to be the best thing for the Herald. I have had
several beats for the European edition, notably the engagement at Seicheprey,
the bringing down of German planes by Americans and the decoration of the 104th
Regiment. I cabled something on each to New York. It does not seem practicable
to send the same dispatches to New York and Paris. The censors permit
considerable leeway in cables to America but won’t let anything go to Paris
which might seem like boasting or glorification of American troops. The theory
is that modesty must characterize everything printed in Paris so as not to
offend the French and that we must also be careful not to reveal any
information to the enemy which gets in a day or two everything printed in
Paris. This censorship rule will explain why I am not able to put more punch in
the stories in the European edition. I have fought out the censorship matter
with the authorities here and in headquarters, insisting that the Herald, in
its European edition, must be permitted to have exactly the same privileges the
Stars and Stripes has. The Stars and Stripes is an official government
newspaper, printed weekly on the Mail presses in Paris and cannot be called a
competitor of the Herald. I complained on several occasions that this official
paper was allowed to print stories which the Herald could not publish and that
it was distinctly unfair. The matter was taken up carefully and from now on the
Herald will have precisely the same privileges given to the Stars and Stripes.
... Every American officer in France
practically gets the [Paris] Herald. I see it in the front line, in the clubs, in the
dugouts, everywhere. ... In Neufchateau at seven every evening there is a crowd
about the one newsstand waiting for the Herald. All the officers and a great
many of the privates buy it. With the number of Americans in France constantly
and rapidly increasing the Herald circulation should gain steadily.
... On Sunday I took the liberty of
sending about 70 words to New York at full rate (25 cents a word)[equivalent to about $4.40 today] to provide a
newsy lead to the story about the decoration of the 104th Regiment,
Massachusetts. The A. P. man was late getting in and I saw a possibility of
getting a beat in New York and in any event a different and newsy introduction.
...
All the correspondents who went to
the other front, to the North, have returned here. The censorship was so rigid
the three weeks put in there were lost. I shall remain here unless, in my
opinion, it is better for the Herald for me to go to the other front for a
brief stay. ... When the big battle in Picardy settles down I should like to
make a try for a complete story on, and good interview with, General [Ferdinand] Foch. He
is probably a hard man to reach but if it could be done, in my opinion, it
would be one of the big stories of the war.
Respectfully,
Don
Martin
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