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.
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