DAKOTA COUNTY HERALD, DAKOTA CITY, NEBRASKA,
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OUTWITTING THE HUN"
By Lieutenant Pat O'Brien
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O'BRIEN FINDS HIMSELF A PRISONER OF WAR AFTER A
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE FROM DEATH.
Synopsis Pat O'Brien, n resident of Momence, HI., after seeing
servico In the American flying corps on the Mexican border in 1010,
Joins tho Britiah Boynl Flying corps in Canada, and after n brief train
In;; period is sent to France. Ho Ib assigned to a squadron in active
service on the front. Do engages in several hot fights with German
flyers, from which ho emerges victorious.
CHAPTER III.
Captured by tho Huns.
I nhall not easily forget tho 17th of
August, 1017. I killed two Huns in
tho double-seated machine in tho
morning, another In the evening, and
then I was captured myself. I may
have spent moro eventful days In my
life, but I enn't recall any Just now.
That morning, ia crossing tho lino
on enrly morning patrol, I noticed
two German balloons. I decided that
as soon as my patrol was over I
would go off on my own hool: nnd boo
what n German balloon looked like
at close quarters.
These observation balloons nre nsed
by both sides In conjunction with tho
artillery. A man sits np in tho bal
loon with n wireless apparatus and di
rects tho firing of tho guns. From his
point of vantage ho can follow tho
work of his own artillery with a re
markable degrco of accuracy and nt
tho same tlrao ho can obscrvo tho ene
my's movements and report them.
Tho Gtrmnns aro very good nt this
work, nnd thoy uso a great number of
Machine O'Brien Was Driving When
He Was Overcome and Captured by
the Huns.
these balloons. It was considered a
very Impbrtant part of our work to
keep them out of tho sky.
There aro two ways of going after a
balloon in a machine. One of them Is
to cross tho lines nt a low altitude, fly
ing so near tho ground that tho man
with tho antiaircraft gun can't bother
you. You fly along until you got to tho
level of tho balloon nnd If, in tho
meantime, they havo not drawn tho
balloon down, you open flro on It and
the bullets you use vin net Jt on flro
If they land.
Tho other way is to fly over where
you know tho balloons to bo, jut your
machine In a spin so that they can't
hit you, get above them, spin over tho
balloon nnd then open lire. In going
back over tho line you cross at a few
hundred feet.
This Is ono of tho hardest Jobs In
tho service. Thero Is less danger In
attacking nn enemy's aircraft.
Nevertheless, I had mado tip my
mind to elthor get thoso balloons or
, mnke them descend, and I only hoped
- that they would stay on tho Job until
, ! had u chnnco at them.
When our two hours' duty was up,
therefore, I dropped out of tho forma
tion as wo crossed tho lines and turned
back ngnJn.
I wns ut n height of 15,000 feet, con-
smcrewy Higher thnn tho balloons.
Shutting my motor off, I dropped down
through tho clouds, thinking to find
tia balloons nt nbout five or aix miles
(behind tho German lines.
Just as I came out of tho cloud
hanks I saw below mo, about a thou
sand feet, a two-seater hostile ma
chine doing artillery observation and
greeting tho German guns. This wns
it a point nbout four miles behind tho
Qcrmnu lines.
Evidently tho German artillery saw
no nnd put out ground slgnnls to at
ract tho Hun machine's attention, for
saw the observer quit his work and
vrab his gun, whllo their pilot stuck
ho noso of his machine . straight
lown.
But they were too Into to escape me.
wbh diving toward them at a speed
jjf probably two hundred miles an
our, shooting nil tho tlmo as fast as
possible. Their only chance lay In
in possibility that tho forco of my
rivo mignt break my wings. I knew
ly danger In that direction, but as
fion as I enmo out of, my dlvo tho
funa would havo their chanco to get
!e, nnd I knew I had to get them first
.id tako a chanco on my- wings hoid-
g .out.
Fortunately come of my first bullets
'mnd their mark, nnd I wns able to
,nae out of mr dlvo nt nlmnh rn..
'jousand feet. They never camo out
(theirs J
fBUt richt tiaa CAma th hnffnt l.
- - -
i m. a jfr-
nation In tho air I had ever experi
enced up to that time. Tho depth of
my dlvo had brought mo within rench
of tho mnchlno guns from tho ground,
and they also put a barrage around mo
of shrapnel from nntlnlrcraft guns
and I had an opportunity to "ride tho
barrage," as they (Tall it in tho It. F. 0.
To mako tho situation moro Interest
ing, they began shooting "flaming on
ions" at mo. "Flaming onions" aro
rockets shot from a rocket gun. They
are used to hit a machine when It is
flying low, nnd they nro effective up
to about flvo thousand feet Some
times they aro shot up ono after an
other in strings of nbout eight, and
they aro ono of tho hnrdest things to
go through. If they hit tho machine.
It is bound to catch flro and then tho
Jig is up.
All tho tlmo, too, I was being at
tacked by "Archie" the antiaircraft
gun. I escaped tho mnchlno guns nnd
tho "flaming onions," but "Archie," tho
antiaircraft Are, got mo four or flvo
times. Every time a bullet plugged
ine, or rather my machine, it made a
loud bang, on account of tho tension
oa tho material covering tho wings.
None of their shots hurt mo until
I wns about n mile from our lines, and
then they hit my motor. Fortunately",
I still had altltudo enough to drift on
to our own side of tho lines, for my
motor was completely out of commis
sion. They Just raised tho dickens
with mo all tho timo I wns descend
ing, and I began to think I would
strlko tho ground beforo crossing the
lino, but thero was n slight wind In
my favor, and it carried mo two miles
behind our lines. Thero tho balloons
I had gono out to get had tho satisfac
tion of "pin-pointing" me. Through
tho directions which they wero nblo to
glvo to their artillery they commenced
shelling my mnchlno whero it lay.
Tills particular work Is to direct tho
fire of their artillery, nnd they nro
used Just as tho artillery observation
airplanes nre. Usually two men nro
stationed In each balloon. They ascend
to n height of several thousand feet
about flvo rallos behind their own lines
and nro equipped with wireless and
signaling apparatus. They watch tho
burst of their own artillery, check up
tho position, get tho rnnge, nnd direct
tho next shot.
When conditions nro favorablo they
aro ablo to direct tho shots so accu
rately that it Is quick work destroying
tho object of their attack. It was such
a balloon ns this that got my position,
marked mo out, called for an artillery
shot, and they commenced shelling my
mnchlno whero it lay. If I had got
tho two balloons Instead of tho air
plane, I probably would not hnvo lost
my machine, for ho would in all proba
bility havo gono on homo and not botli
ored nbout getting my range nnd caus
ing tho destructions my machine.
I lnndcd In a part of tho country
thnt was literally covered with shell
holes. Fortunately my mnchlno wns
not badly damaged' by tho forced land
ing. I leisurely got out, walked around
it to seo what tho damngo was, and
concluded that it could bo easily re
paired. In fact, I thought If I could
And n spneo long enough between shell
holes to get a start beforo leaving tho
ground that I would bo ablo to fly on
from thero.
I wns still examlnlnrr mv nlnno nnd
considering tho mntter of a few slight
repairs, without any particular thought
for my own safety In thnt unprotected
bpor, wnen a shell camo whizzing
through tho nir, knocked mo to tho
ground nnd lnndcd a few feet away.
It had no 6ooner struck than I mado
a run for cover nnd crawled into n
shell hole. I would havo liked to got
fnrthor away, but I didn't know whero
tho next shell would burst, nnd I
thought I was fairly eafo there, so I
squatted down and let them blaze
away,
Tho only dnmngo I suffered wns
from tho mud which splattered up In
my face and over my clothes. Thnt
was my introduction to a shell hole,
and I resolved right thero thnt tho In
fantry could havo all tho shell-hole
fighting they wnntcd, but It did not
appeal to me, though they Hvo In them
through many n long night and I had
oniy sought shelter thero for n few
minutes.
After tho Germans hnd completely
demolished my machlno and ceased
firing, I waited thero a short time,
fearing pcrhnps thoy might send over
a lucky shot, hoping to get mo after
all. But evidently they concluded
onough shells hnd been wasted on ono
man. I crawled out cautiously, shook
tho mud off, nnd I looked over in tho
direction whero my machine had once
been. Thero wasn't cnoucli lnft- fnr n
decent souvenir, but neverthelesn I got
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(Copyrlflht. 1018, by Pt Alv O'Drten)
a few, "such as they were," nnd read
ily observing thnt nothing could bo
done with what was left, I mado my
way back to infantry headquarters,
whero I was ablo to telephone In n
report
A llttlo later ono of our automo
biles camo out after mo and took mo
back to our airdrome. Most of my
squadron thought I was lost beyond
doubt, nnd never expected to seo mo
again ; but my friend, Paul Itaney, had
hold out that I was all right, nnd ns
I wns aftenvarda told, said, "Don't
send for another pilot: that Irishman
will bo back, if ho has to walk." And
ho knew thnt tho only thing that kept
mo from walking wns tho fact that our
own automobile had been sent out to
bring mo home.
I hnd lots to think nbout thnt day,
nnd I hnd learned many things; ono
was nqt to have too much confidence
in my own ability. One of tho men in
tho squndron told mo that J had bet
ter not tako those chances; that It
was going, to bo a long war and I
would have plenty of opportunities to
bo killed without deliberately "wishing
them on" myself. Later I was to learn
the truth of his statement
That night ray "flight" each squad
ron is divided into three flights, con
sisting of six men each got ready to
go out again. As I started to put on
my tunic I noticed that I was not
marked up for duty as usual.
I asked tho commanding officer, a
mnjor, what tho reason for that was,
nnd ho replied thnt ho thought I had
done enough for ono day. However,
I knew thnt If I did not go, someone
elso from nnothcr "flight" would hnvo
to tako my place, and I Insisted upon
going up with my patrol as usual, and
tho major reluctantly consented. Hnd
ho known what was In store for me, I
nm euro he wouldn't have changed his
mind sp readily.
As It wa3 wo had only five machines
for this patrol, anyway, because as wo
crossed tho lines ono of them hnd to
drop out on nccount of motor trouble.
Our patrol was up at 8 p. in., nnd up
to within ten minutes of that hour It
had been entirely uneventful.
At 7:G0 p. m., however, whllo wo
were flying nt a height of 13,000 feet,
wo observed thrco other English ma
chines which were about 3,000 feet
below us pick n fight with nine Hun
machines!
I know right then that wo wero In
for It, because I could see over toward
the ocean a whole flock of Hun ma
chines which evidently had escaped
tho attention of our scrappy country
men below us.
So wo dovo down on those nine
Huns.
At flrst tho fight was fairly oven.
There wero eight of us to nine of them.
But soon tho other machines which I
had seen In tho distance, and which
wero flying oven higher than we were,
nrrived on tho scene, and when thev.
in turn, dovo down on us, there wns
Just twenty of them to our eight I
Four of them singled mo out I wan
diving, and they dived right down after
mo, Phootlng as they came. Their
tracer bullets wero coming closer to
mo every moment. These tracer bul
lets aro balls of flro which enable tho
ehooter to follow tho course his bul
lets aro taking nnd to correct his aim
accordingly. They do no moro harm
to a pilot if ho is hit than an ordinary
bullet, but if they hit tho petrol tank,
good night I When a machlno catches
flro In flight thero Is no way of put-
tfvHMKv &&:fJn --JflMlHli
Lieutenant O'Brien la tho First Machine Ho Used In Actlvo Servlco.
Him la Lieutenant Atkinson.
ting it out It takes less than a min
ute for tho fabric to burn off tho wings
nnd then tho machine drops like nn
arrow, leaving a trail of smoke like a
comet
As their tracer bullets camo closer
and closer to mo I realized that my
chances of escape were nil. Their very
next shot, I felt, must hit me.
Once, some dnys before, when I was
flying over the line, I hnd watched a
light abovo me. A German machlno
wns set on .Are, nnd dived down
through our formation In flnmes on Its
wny to tho ground. Tho Hun was div
ing at such a Bharp angle thnt both
his wings camo off, nnd ns he pnsscd
within a few hundred feet of mo I saw
the look of horror on his face.
Now, when I expected any moment
to suffer a simllnr fate, I could not
help thinking of that poor Hun's last
look of agony.
I realized that my only chnnco Iny
In making an Immclman turn. This
maneuver wns Invented by a German
ono of tho greatest who ever flew and
who was killed in action some time be
fore. This turn, which I mnde success
fully, brought ono of their machines
right in front of me, nnd as ho sailed
along barely ten yards away, I "had
the drop" on him, nnd he knew It
His white face and startled eyes I
can still see, no knew beyond ques
tion that his last moment had come,
because his position prevented his tak
ing aim at me, while my gun pointed
straight at him. My first tracer bullet
passed within n ynrd of his head, the
second looked as If It hit his shoulder,
tho third struck him In the neck, and
then I let him have tho whole works,
nnd he went down In a spinning nose
dive.
All this tlmo tho three other Hun
machines were shooting away at me.
I Could hear the bullets striking my
mnchlno one after another. I hadn't
the slightest idea that I could ever
beat off those thrco Huns, but thero
was nothing for me to do but fight and
my hands were full.
In fighting, your machine is drop
ping, dropping nil tho time. I glanced
nt my Instruments, and my altltudo
was between 8,000 and 0,000 feet.
While I was still looking nt the In
struments, tho wholo blamed works
disappeared. A burst of bullets went
Into tho instrument board and blew
It to smithereens, another bullet went
through my upper lip, came out of the
roof of my mouth and lodged In my
throat, and tho next thing I knew wns
when I came to In a German hospital
tho following morning at five o'clock,
German time.
I was a prisoner of war.
,. CHAPTER IV.
' Clipped Wlnns.
The hospital in which I found my
self on tho morning after my capture
wa3 a private house mado of brick,
very low and dirty, nnd not at all
adapted for use as a hospital. It had
evidently been used but a fow dnys on
account of tho big push that was tak
ing place at that time of the year, nnd
In nil probability would be abandoned
as soon ns they had found a .better
plnce.
In all, Uio house contained four
rooms and a stable, which was by far
tho largest of all. Although I never
looked Into this "wing" of tho hospital,
I was told that It, too, was filled with
patients lying on beds of straw around
on the ground. I do not know whether
With
JBWK
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I
4Wfc
they, too, wero officers or privates.
Tho room in which I found myself,
contained eight beds, threo of which
were occupied by wounded Gcrmnn of
ficers. Tho other rooms, I Imngined,
had about tho sarao number of beds as
mine. There wero no Bed Cross nurses
In nttendance, Just orderlies, for this
wns only nn emergency hospital and
too near tho firing lino for nurses. Tho
orderlies were not old men nor very
young boys, as I had expected to find,
but young men In tho prime of life,
who evidently' had been mcdlcnl stu
dents. Ono or two of them, I discov
ered, wero nblo to tnlk Emrllsh. lint
for somo. ronson they would not talk.
Pcrhups they wero forbidden by tho
ofllcer In chnrgo to do so.
In addition to tho bullet wound In
my mouth I had a swelling from my
forehead to the back of my head al
most as nig as my shoe and that is
saying considerable. I couldn't move
an inch without suffering lntenso pain,
and when the doctor told mo that I
had no bones broken I wondered how
n fellow would feel who hnd.
German officers visited mo that
morning nnd told mo that my machine
went down In a spinning nose dive
from n height of between 8,000 and
9,000 feet, and they had the surprise
of their lives when thoy discovered
thnt I hnd not been dashed to pieces.
They hnd to cut me out of my machine,
which was riddled with shots nnd shat
tered to bits.
A German doctor removed tho bullet
from my throat, and tho first thing he
said to mo when I camo to wns, "You
are an American!"
There wns no denying it, because
the metal identification disk on my
.wrist bore the Inscription :
"P. O'B.
U. S. A.
R. F. C."
Although I was suffering Intense
ngony, the doctor, who spoke perfect
English, Insisted upon conversing with
me.
"You may be nil right as n sports
man," he declared, "but you are a
d d murderer -Just the enme for be
ing here. You Americans who got Into
this thing before America camo Into,
tho war aro no better than common
murderers and you ought to be treated
tho same way 1"
Tho wound in my mouth made it im
possible for mo to answer him, and I
was suffering too much pain to be
hurt very much by anything he could
say.
He asked mo If I would like an
applet I could Just as easily havo
eaten a brick.
When ho got no answers out of me,
no wnjKea away disgustedly.
"You don't have to worry nny more,"
ho declared, as a parting shot. "For
you the war is over."
I was given a little broth Inter In
tho day, and as I began to collect my
thoughts I wondered what had hap
pened to my comrades in the battle
which had resulted so disastrously to
me. As I began to realize my plight
I worried less about my physical con
dition than the fact that, as the doc
tod had pointed out, for mo the war
was practically over. I had been In it
but n short time, and now I would bo
a prisoner for tho duration of tho wnrl
Tho next day some German flying
officers visited me, nnd I must say they
treated mo with great consideration.
They told mo of the man I had brought
down. They enld he was a Bnvarlan
nnd a fairly good pilot They gave mo
his hat as a souvenir and compliment
ed mo on tho fight I hnd put up.
My helmet, which was of soft
leather, was split from front to back
by a bullet from a machlno gun, and
thoy examined It with grent interest.
When thoy brought mo my uniform I
found that the star of mv rank which
had been on my right shoulder strap
had been shot pff clean. Tho one on
my left shoulder sfrnn thov nskort mn
for as a souvenir, as also my It. F. C.
nauges, .winch I gave them. Thov nl-
lowcd mo to keep my "wings," which
I woro on my left breast, because they
wero aware that that Is the proudest
possession of a British flying ofllcer.
I think I nm right in saying that tho
only chivalry in this war on tho Ger
mnn side of the trenches has been dis
played by tho ofllcers of tho German
flying corps, which comprises tho pick
or uermauy. They pointed out to mo
that I and my comrades wero fighting
purely for the lovo of It, whereas they
wero fighting In defenso of their coun
try, but still, they said, they admired
us for our sportsmanship. I had a no
tion to ask them If dropping bombs on
London nnd killing so many Innocent
people wns in defenso of their country,
but I was in no position or condition
to pick n quarrel at thnt tlmo.
That same day a German ofllcer wns
brought Into tho hospital and put In
tho bunk next to mine. Of courso I
casually looked at him, but did not
pay particular attention to him at that
time. Ho lay thero for three or four
hours beforo I did tako a real good
look at him. I was positive that ho
could not speak English, and naturally
I did not say anything to hlra. Onco
when I looked over In his direction his
eyes wero on me, and to my surprise
ho said, very sarcastically, "What the
h 1 are you looking at" and then
J
smiled. At this time 1 v,, j.i t bu
ginning to say a few words, as my
wound hnd prevented mo from talking,
but I snid enough to let him know
what I was doing there nnd how I
happened to bo there. Ho evidently
nnu ncaru my story from some of tho
others, though, because ho said it was
too bad I had not broken my neck;
thnt ho did not have much sympathy
with tho flying corps nnywny. Ho
asked me what part of America I camo
from, and I told him "California."
After a few moro questions ho
learned thnt I halloa irom San Fran
cisco, nnd then -ddcd to my distress
by saying, "How would von llko f
hnvo a good, Juicy steak right out of
tho Hofbrau?" Naturally I told him
It would "hit tho spot," but I hardly
thought my mouth was In shape Just
then to eat It. I Immediately asked,
of course, what he know about tho
nofbrau, and he replied, "I wns con
nected with the place a good many
years, and I ought to know nil about
it"
After that tlds German officer and
I beenrao rather chummy; that Is, as
far as I could be chummy with an
enemy, and wo whllcd away a good
many long hours talking nbout tho
dnys wo had spent In San Francisco,
nnd frequently in tho conversation ono
of us would mention somo prominent
Callfornlnn, or some little Incident oc
curring there, with which we wero
uoih familiar.
He told mo when war wns doolnrori
ho was, of course, Intensely pntrlotle
anu tnought the only thing for him to
do wns to go back and aid In the de
fense of his country. He found that
he could not go directly from San
Francisco, because tho water was too
well guarded by the English, so ho
boarded a boat for South America.
Thero he obtained a forged passport
and In tho guise of a Montovldean took
passage for New York and from thero
to England.
no passed through England without
nny difficulty on his forged passport "
but concluded not to risk going to Holt
land for fear of exciting too much suspicion,-
so went down through the
Strait of Gibraltar to Italy, which was
neutral at that time, up to Austria,
Pat O'Brien and Paul Raney.
nnd thenco to Germany. He said when
they put In at Gibraltar, after leaving
England, thero were two suspects
taken off the ship, men that ho was
sure were neutral subjects, but much
to his relief his own passport and cre
dentials wero examined and passed
O. K. ,
The Hun spoke of his voyage from
America to England ns being excep
tionally pleasant, nnd said ho had a
fine time, because he associated with
tho English passengers on board, his
fluent English readily admlttlug him
to several spirited arguments on tho
subject of the war, which he keenly
enjoyed. One little Incident ho related
rovealed tho remarkable tact which
our enemy dlsplnyed in his associa
tions at sea, which no doubt resulted
advantageously for him. As he ex
pressed it, he "made a hit" one evening
when the crowd has assembled for a
llttlo music by suggesting that they
sing'God Save the King." Thereafter
his popularity was assured and the de-
sireu effect accomplished, for ver
soon a French officer camo up to him
and snid, "It's, too bad thnt Enginnd
and ourselves haven't men in our army
like you." It wns too bad, ho agreed
in telling me about it, because he was
confident he could have done n whole
lot more for Germany if he had been
In tho English army. In spite of his
apparent loyalty, however, tlio mnn
didn't seem very enthusiastic over" the
war and frankly admitted ono day that
mu um poimcal names waged In Cali
fornia were much more to his liking
than the battles ho had gono through
over here. On second thought he
laughed as though It wero a good Joke,'
but ho evidently intended me to infer
thnt ho had taken a keen Interest in
politics in San Francisco.
From his prison, O'Brien wit
nesses a thrilling air battle,
which results In the death of his
chum, who is 6hot down by a
German flyer. Don't miss the
next installment
(TO DE CONTINUED.;
Wives Evidently His Hobby.
Probably tho modern world's marry
Ing record for men wns created by
George Wltzoff, the bigamist, whose
marriages have variously been estimat.
ed at from 200 to 800. It was report
ed that In tho spaco of a single week
ho went through marrlago ceremonies
with ten women.
Worse'n BollsToo. '
Old Job had his troubles, but nobody
raised tho prlco of Ico on him when ha
was laying In his winter's coal. At
lanta Constitution.
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