2. Charles Motley Clark, of Philadelphia, son of the late Clarence H. Clark and his wife, who was Miss Motley of Boston, a niece of the historian of the Netherlands.
3. Dr. Powers; of the American Red Cross.
4. Dr. Reese has made a fine record for himself at the hospital and in a wide radius of the neighborhood, where his name is blessed by the inhabitants. The hospital is run by the Delpit family, one of whose daughters teaches in Smith College, and another at Bryn Mawr, where they have many friends who help them in their fine work. (Editor.) ,
5. From Bangor, Maine, graduate of Harvard, member of S.S.U. 3.
6. Benjamin Woodworth, of California and Germantown, Philadelphia; killed in Champagne. See page 67 et seq.
7. James M. Sponagle, of Gloucester, Massachusetts. He is now First Lieutenant in charge of Section 622 (old 65).
8. Paul B. Kurtz, of Germantown, Philadelphia. Killed in May, 1918, having left the Ambulance Service to enter Aviation.
9. Lieutenant Marquis Robert de Kersauson de Penneadreff. See At the Front in a Flivver, p. 59, et seq.
10. The Section received a belated citation eventually, however. (See infra, page 37.) Also Messrs. Wood worth, Hibbard, Kurtz, and Townsend got a citation for their winter's work around Hill 304. (See infra, page 41.)
11. Robin Jay Flynn, California; now in the Canadian Artillery.
12. Roy Stockwell is now Lieutenant in the Field Artillery Service, A.E.F.
13. Just one year later --- March 21-31, 1918 --- the Germans rolled over the identical ground.
14. The very ground that was re-invaded by the Germans and heroically fought for again by the Allies, reinforced by the Americans, in the spring and summer of 1918.
15. This is where, in the spring of 1918, centered a tremendous stand by the French in their retreat.
16. Richard Stout has entered the Aviation Service. (Editor.)
17. The Section Flag carried three stars and one palm at the end of the season. (Editor.)
18. This new system has not yet been put into operation. (Editor.)
19. He was Lieutenant La Forgue, and is now a liaison officer with the American Army. (Editor.)
20. Richard Plow is now in the Canadian Artillery. (Editor.)
21. Robert Gamble, of Jacksonville, Florida. He is now an officer in the Aviation Service.
22. Madame de Benoist-d'Azy is a sister of Mr. Scammon Jones, now of Philadelphia. She has been decorated for her brave work.
23. Where the Americans so distinguished, themselves in June, 1918.
24. Garneau Weld is still in Section 625 (old 1). He has just been awarded the Croix de Guerre (July, 1918). (Editor.)
25. As a fact Lieutenant Stevenson eventually passed highest in a class of one hundred and fifty French and American officers and "non-coms." There were two others who did also: Lieutenant Tomkins and Lieutenant du Cassé. (Editor.)
26. Guynemer was killed September 11, 1917, three months after this. One is tempted to publish here the remarkable allocution delivered by General Anthoine, commanding the First Army, in honor of Guynemer, before all the flags of the First Army, the aviators, and the members of the Légion d'Honneur, on November 30, 1917, on the Aviation Field of Saint-Pol-sur-Mer: --
"If I have invited you to-day to render to Guynemer the last homage that is due to him by the First Army, it is neither before a coffin nor near a grave. Neither, at Poelcappelle reconquered, has a vestige of his mortal remains been found. It seems as though Heaven, jealous of its hero, had refused to restore to earth even the spoils which as a right should be returned to it --- as though Guynemer entire had flown to the empyrean by some miraculous ascension, disappearing in all his glory
"In assembling on the very spot whence he darted toward Infinity, we pass above the customary rites of sadness which crowned the end of a man's life, and we mean to salute the entrance into immortality of the Knight-of-the-Air without fear or reproach.
"Men pass, France remains.
"Each of those who fall for her bequeath to her one ray of glory; and of those rays is built up her splendor. Happy is he who enriches the common patrimony of the race by a gift more precious, more magnificent of himself. Happy, therefore, among all, the child of France, of whom we exalt the almost superhuman destiny.
"Honor to him in heaven where he reigned so often victorious.
"Honor to him on earth and in our soldiers' hearts, and in our flags, those sacred emblems in which are embodied for us the cultus of Honor and the worship of country.
"Flags of the Second Group of Aviation and of the First Army, ye who piously gather in the mystery of your revered folds the memory of the virtues, the devotion, and the sacrifices, in order to form and to keep through the ages the treasure of our national traditions --
"Flags, ye in whom survives the soul of dead heroes, of which one seems to hear, when flutters your bunting, the voice that orders the living to march on through the same perils to the same apotheoses --
" Flags, may the soul of Guynemer dwell eternally in you.
"May it through you create and multiply heroes in his image.
"May it, through you, inspire the same ardent resolves in neophytes who will wish to honor the martyr in the only manner that is worthy of him, by imitating his lofty example; and may it give to his valiant followers, the strength to revive in them Guynemer in his legendary prowess.
"For the only homage that he may henceforth expect from his brothers in arms and that we owe him here, is action --- the proud continuation of his work.
"At that supreme moment, where, on the limits of life, he felt his thought about to escape him, when he embraced in one sweep, as through a lightning flash, all the past and all the future, if he could know one last pleasure, it must have been found in his absolute faith in his comrades' power to finish the task undertaken in common with him.
"You, gentlemen, his friends, his rivals in glory, and now, his avengers, I know you; and such as was Guynemer, I am sure of you. You are of a size to face those formidable burdens which he has bequeathed to you and to nobly realize the vast hopes which, with good reason, the country had set upon him.
"It is to affirm in front of our flags, noble witnesses, this assured continuity so necessary, that I wish to bestow in the course of this very ceremony, under the ægis of Guynemer's memory, under his invocation, to two of you --- two of the stoutest fighters --- distinctions which at once are the reward of the past and a guerdon of the future. [The General then fastened the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor on Captain Heurtaux's breast and that of Knight of the Legion of Honor on Adjutant Fonck's].
"Let us rise in our hearts, united in one fraternal thought of respectful admiration and of gratitude for the heroes whom the First Array can never forget --- for her hero of whom she was so proud, and of whom the Great Shade will ever soar in history in the memory of his actions in Flanders.
"Such Shades as those of Guynemer surely guide those who know how to follow toward the triumphant path which through ruins, graves, and sacrifices lead the strong and the true to glorious Victory.
"Amen."
General Order No. 50. Le Général Commandant la Ière Armée, cite à l'ordre de l'Armée: --
M. Guynemer, Georges, Capitaine Commandant l'Escadrille, N° 3: --
Mort au Champ d'Honneur le 11 Septembre 1917. Héros légendaire, tombé en plein ciel de gloire, après trois ans de lutte ardente. Restera le plus pur symbole des qualités de la race --tenacité indomptable, énergie farouche, courage sublime. Animé de la foi la plus inébranlable dans la victoire, il lègue au soldat français, un souvenir impérissable qui exaltera l'esprit de sacrifice et provoquera les plus nobles émulations.
(These words are inscribed on the wall of the Panthéon in Paris.)
Adjutant Fonck has splendidly made good. A few days after this, he avenged his friend by killing Lieutenant Weisemann, his slayer; and, in August, 1918, he even outstripped his hero, by bringing down his sixtieth plane. (Editor.)
27. Raoul Lufbery himself was killed in combat a year later. At the time of his death he was the leading American flier in the Lafayette Escadrille. He was flying long before the United States entered the war. He was buried with every honor on May 21, 1918. The last time Lieutenant Stevenson saw him to speak to was in Paris shortly before his death, when both men were "en permission," and came cross each other at Henry's. Lufbery was brought down by a big Boche double plane, quite near the camp where Lieutenant Stevenson had his quarters. When his plane caught fire, he attempted to jump into a water-course below from a height of some five hundred yards. He missed and fell into a garden and was killed instantly. As usual, his comrades flew over his grave, throwing flowers over him as he was lowered to his last resting-place. Lufbery had nineteen Boches to his credit and at the time of his death was far and away the leading American flyer. At that time, Lieutenant Stevenson said that Frank L. Baylies was creeping up to second place with six official enemy planes to his credit, while the newspapers credited him with eleven victories. But Baylies is in the French Escadrille "Les Cigognes," and it is possible that he wouldn't be scored with the Americans. For Baylies' record see below, p. 90, et seq.
In the War Letters of Edmond Charles Clinton Genet, page 284, the writer claims the honor of having decorated this little living-room. where the Lafayette EscadrilIe made history. He writes: --
"Our living-room, where we are most of the time when off duty, is a mighty attractive little den. We have covered the walls with corrugated cardboard strips --- smooth side outside --- over the rough boards, and on this, in various places I have drawn and painted vivid scenes of aerial combats between French and German machines, and here and there I have made other pencil drawings of girls. Each of the two doors is draped with attractive blue and brown curtains, the four windows have white curtains, except one which caught fire from a lamp by accident last night, and a huge painting of an Indian head, the symbol of the escadrille, which is also painted on each of our machines. The Indian's mouth is open as though he were shouting his terrible war cry in defiance of his enemies, and he looks very warlike indeed. It's quite an appropriate symbol for the escadrille, being something so genuinely American. For entertainment, we have a pretty fair piano," etc.
Among the aviators whom Lieutenant Stevenson met about this time was Nungesser who recently has been named Officer of the Legion of Honor, having added two more victories to his already numerous list. This swells his record to thirty-six enemy planes. He enjoys the uncomfortable distinction of having been more wounded than any living pilot. Le Matin recently published a full list of his wounds, as follows: --
"Fracture of the cranium, cerebral commotion, internal lesions, five fractures of the upper jaw, two fractures of the lower jaw, shell éclat in the right arm, two dislocated knees, one knee redislocated, shell splinter in the mouth, atrophied ligaments of the lower left leg, atrophied calf, two fractures of the jaw, dislocated clavicle, internal lesion, wrist, leg, and right foot out of joint, fracture of the horizontal branch of the inferior maxillary, contusion thoraco-pulmonary. He was three times reformed in Class No. 1, but he never would accept convalescence leave. Whilst in the Dunkirk hospital, he took advantage of his days out to bring down nine official planes! And now, he continues his record by bringing down Boches by pairs!"
"While quoting the Matin's list," says Mr. Stevenson, "I may add that this does not take into account the time when his chauffeur died while driving his car in Paris, and the car ran into a stone wall. Nungesser blew into Maxim's a few minutes later with his head all bandaged, and had a cocktail with one or two of us who happened to be there, while he arranged for the body of his man to be taken care of." (Editor.)
28. George Frederick Norton, of New York.
29. Philip S. Rice, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, stock-broker.
30. Paul Osborn died. He was cited and decorated by order of the Fourth Army. (Editor.)
31. James M. White, brother of Victor White, of New York. See At the Front in a Flivver. He is now Lieutenant in the Gas Service, A.E.F.
32. Giles B. Francklyn, of Lausanne. Served in Sections I and 3.
33. Frank L. Baylies, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who furnished the author so many amusing paragraphs in At the Front in a Flivver, and who, for the "Ambulanciers" of Section 1, became the origin of the new verb "to baylies," used as an equivalent for the French "faire un gaffe," but whose good luck never deserted him, eventually became a noted aviator. He entered the Flying Corps on his return from Salonica, where he had gone with a newly formed ambulance. In April last he already had brought down his fifth Hun machine, and his exploits as well as his adventures have become legendary. He was, when recently reported killed, a member of the celebrated Escadrille "Les Cigognes," which Guynemer immortalized and the glorious tradition of which Captain Heurtaux, recently among us, and Adjutant Fonck have so nobly continued. Baylies' escape from capture by the Germans in April 1918, when after an air-fight he was obliged to land in No Man's Land some five hundred yards from the enemy trenches, thrilled two continents. The Germans, of course, as he approached, began to pepper his plane, and Baylies, who was a good athlete, as he came low enough to the earth, sprang out of his machine and made time for the French lines. The Germans ran in pursuit, chasing him with rifles and machine guns.. The French, seeing the game on, opened fire on the Huns. They dropped one German and drove the rest back to their own lines, while Baylies sprinted for dear life. He declared that he made the last sixty yards of that race in record time. At this time Lieutenant Stevenson wrote home that the French general commanding the Section personally congratulated the young American upon his good work and narrow escape. Since last April, however, Baylies had "bagged" his sixth Boche, and the cry was "Still they come," for on June 8 of this year a cable dispatch to a newspaper announced that Baylies had destroyed his eleventh official German airplane.
His account of his latest exploit at that time, as reported by Mr. Paul Ayres Rockwell, was that he was on patrol five kilometers (three miles) behind the German lines, and when about to start homeward, as his fuel was getting low, he noticed a French observer machine tumbling down in a "vrille " with four German monoplanes in pursuit, firing at it. He thought the Frenchman done for, but he also thought he'd take a hand in the fight. He attacked the topmost Hun whom he sent down on fire. Then he retreated. At one hundred yards from the ground he saw the Frenchman rally and make for his own lines. He had seventeen bullet holes in his make-up. The pilot laughingly said that he had feigned to be mortally disabled; but that he must have been in a dreadful predicament but for Baylies' timely diversion. His observer was severely wounded.
Our young old friend was in a fair way to take the place of the much-regretted Lufbery, and it is a pleasure to record his splendid work. In aviation, daring and luck count for much, and Baylies seems for a time to have had both. It was, therefore, with more than usual dismay among those who knew the brave lad that the news of his death was received; and one clung to the hope that his phenomenal luck might not have deserted him, and that he might have been made prisoner. The German aviators, however, dropped the information on the airdrome of "Les Cigognes" that he had been killed in action; and the American Field Service Bulletin of July 14, 1918, states that he was shot in the head. (Editor.)
34. Mr. Philip S. Rice, of Wilkes-Barre, who was a close friend of Mr. Norton, in his spirited account of his death, states that a splinter also had pierced his heart. Mr. Rice had crossed over with Mr. Norton and they had entered S.S.U. No. 1 together. See An Ambulance Driver in France, p. 48, etc., by Philip Sidney Rice, Wilkes-Barre. (Editor).
35. Where the American Army made its first independent offensive on September 11, 1918, under General Pershing. (Editor.)
36. Mr. Coningsby Dawson, in his latest little book Out to Win (pp. 58-59), when dealing with the various causes that brought the United States into the war, seems to agree thoroughly with this idea. He points out how, in the face of our neutrality, "one by one, and in little protesting bands, the friends of the Allies slipped overseas bound on self-imposed sacrificial quests; they went like knight-errants to the rescue. They were men like Alan Seeger, of the Foreign Legion; others chose the Ambulance Service; others, positions on the Commission for the Relief of Belgium. Soon 'le Train Américain' was seen rolling through France under both the French and the American flags. At Neuilly, the American Hospital sprang up. By the time President Wilson flung his challenge, eighty-six War Relief Organizations were operating in France; while ninety per cent of their workers were toiling in the United States sending over supplies:
"Long before April, 1917, American college boys had won a name by their devotion in forcing their ambulances over the shell-torn roads in every part of the French Front, but, perhaps, with peculiar heroism at Verdun.... The report of the sacrificial courage of these pioneers had traveled to every State of the Union. Their example had stirred, shamed, and educated the Nation. It is to these knight-errants --- very many of them boys and girls --- that I attribute America's eager acceptance of Calvary, when, at last, it was offered to her by her statesmen." (Editor.)
37. Meaning Stephen Galatti, second in command of the Field Service.
38. Arthur Dallin. He went into the Artillery School at Fontainebleau and joined the 32d Regiment of Artillery
39. Mr. Rice, in his little book An Ambulance Driver in France, gives a wonderfully graphic account of the incident. He and Mr. Pearl, as mentioned by Lieutenant Stevenson, had been ordered by him to go to repair Mr. Stockwell's car at Fort Haudromont. It was a bad night. A shell came at them with a terrific shriek, and then, a crash.
"Pearl had stepped partly from the seat and had crouched down. I had put my head down, and covered my face with my arms. The pieces of shell and rocks spattered around the car and hit it in several places.Each fraction of a second, I expected to feel a stinging sensation; but I quickly came to a realization that I was not scratched. I raised my head and asked, 'Are you all right, Pearl?' Then I saw a magnificent display of calm courage. As he stood up, Pearl replied as quietly as if he had discovered something wrong with the front tire. 'I think my arm is gone.'
"It was not gone, but badly shattered. With nervy calm and head cool, though he was bleeding badly, he got up on the seat beside me. The nearest dressing-station was at Houdraumont, and we drove on....
"At Houdraumont, we left the car at the cross-roads, and started to climb the steep, muddy embankment to reach the dressing 'poste.' Pearl was losing blood and getting weak, but still calm. I am sure he was more calm than I was.
"While his wound was being dressed, I telephoned and reported the accident to Stevenson. I reported that I would remain at Houdraumont until he could be moved. There was some question as to whether he might be obliged to stay all night. But it was finally decided to move him back to the hospital at Bevaux without waiting until morning. It was now pitch dark and the roads were crowded with traffic. Progress was extremely slow on the way back. We would perhaps drive a quarter of an hour and then be held up for a quarter of an hour. Shells were arriving and shells were departing --- it was a bad night.
"Whenever we stopped, I would open the little front window of the car, -and ask Pearl how he felt; and always would come back the reply, 'All right.' Once we were held up for an unusually long time, and I walked ahead to see what was holding up the traffic. It was a large gun that had become ditched, and men, horses, and trucks were pulling and straining. Finally we were on our way, and without other bad delays we reached the hospital. It had taken two hours to cover less than ten miles. I saw Pearl carried from his stretcher; and then I couldn't refrain from telling him what I felt: 'Pearl, you have got the finest, coolest nerve of any man I have ever seen.'"
40. Harwood B. Day, of Providence, Rhode Island, at the time the above was written had not yet been through the technical school at Meaux. Since then, he has taken the course and passed well. He enlisted in the American Ambulance in September, 1915, joining Section 1 in Flanders, returning home in the winter of 1916. He went back, returning to his old Section in 1917, and is now First Sergeant in S.S.U. 625, and Chief Machinist of the Section. (Editor.)
41. Mr. Pearl was awarded the "Médaille Militaire" on June 29,1918. It carries with it a pension. (Editor.)
42. Referring in his book to this episode, Mr. Rice says: --
"on the fifteenth of September, after forty-five days and forty-five nights under shell fire day and night, we received orders to go on repose. A little while later Stevenson packed me in his staff car and started me on my way to Paris to see a doctor.
"I was not elated ---I was utterly dejected. I had wanted to finish strong and I had all but finished in the discard. 'Take a month off or as long as you need, but I want you to come back,' was Steve's kind and cheering parting, as the car pulled down the road.
"The men in the Section had all been wonderful. Lieutenant Reymond had been magnificent; but I am sure but for the brainy, watchful, sympathetic leadership of William Yorke Stevenson, the Section would never have held together those long days and nights, in that seething, shrieking, blood-stained Hell in front of Verdun ---'the valley of the shadow of death.'"
43. Roger Sherman Dix, Jr., entered the Aviation Service. He died of injuries received at the Front in an airplane accident on May 16, 1918. He was from Greenbush, Massachusetts, and was a Harvard man. (Editor.)
44. Mr. Rice's heart, I have since heard, was not strong when he went over; but his pluck carried him through almost until the very end of those awful six weeks. (Editor.)
45. Mark V. Brennan remained with the Section when it became S.S.U. 625. In April 19-22., 1918, he distinguished himself at Seicheprey for coolness and bravery and received a letter of commendation from General Pershing. Two other men of the Section, Harold E. Purdy and Edward A. G. Wylie, received similar letters. (See Bulletin of the American Field Service, June 22, 1918. Editor.)
46. Lieutenant Stevenson eventually had some good sport, as shown in a letter to a friend: "I was invited by the Mayor of a near-by town to go on an official wild boar hunt last Sunday, and had a great time. They employ beaters and dogs, and they handed me an ancient shot-gun using the old-fashioned pin-fire cartridges of Civil War days. I got one boar, but, worse luck, he died in another fellow's sector. There were quite a number of important civilians in the party. We had a bully picnic luncheon, and forgot there was a war going on, except for an occasional airplane fight. During the luncheon a Boche two-seater was brought down, the occupants being smashed to a pulp. One of them wore the Iron Cross." (Editor.)
47. Harold E. Purdy remained with the Section when, it became S.S.U. 625. He was one of those loaned by Lieutenant Stevenson to the American Division next to the French Division to which he was attached, and "volunteered to do stretcher-bearer work under heavy fire when the regular men ran short, and acquitted himself with conspicuous bravery during the three days' fighting around Seicheprey. April 19-22, 1918."
The above is quoted from a letter Mr. Purdy received from General Pershing himself, published in the Bulletin of American Ambulance Field Service, June 22, 1918. Two other men of Section 625 were also commended for similar service at the same time. (Editor.)
48. At the time the surgeon was wounded, the road was completely cut off by barrage fire; in fact, there was no road until Lieutenant Stevenson with some of his men. went up and repaired it enough for the Fords to get through. That night, General Riberpray, Commanding the Sector, and the 128th Division, thanked the Lieutenant personally for reëstablishing communication for traffic, and he earned his second reward. The General was killed two or three hours later on that night. (Editor. See below, September 12.)
49. Paul Kurtz was killed in May, 1918, just as he was beginning to do active service. See above, p. 11. (Editor.)
50. Herbert P. Townsend, of New York, succeeded Roger Balbiani as Adjutant Commander of Section 1, when the latter entered the Aviation Service.
Roger Balbiani's death was reported in May, 1918. He was American Chef de Section S.S.U. No. 1 at the time of the Battle of the Yser and of Ypres. He entered the Aviation Service, and Herbert P. Townsend took his place. He originally came from Cuba, but his family was well known in Paris. He won the Croix de Guerre while in the Ambulance Service. He had many friends who affectionately knew him as "Balbi." He was killed in action. (Editor.)
51. Since then the necrology of the Section has more than doubled with the deaths of Paul B. Kurtz, Roger Balbiani, Roger Sherman Dix, Peter Avard, and I think others. (Editor.)
