'P^-K .0 ^- "AUX MORTS" fainted by H'aldo Pierce Memorial Volume of the American Field Service in France " Friends of France 1914-1917 Edited by JAMES W. D. SEYMOUR With an Introduction by LIEUTENANT-COLONEL A. PIATT ANDREW AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE 50 STATE STREET, BOSTON I92I -^^ 0°^ vX*^ ^^ Copyright, 1921, American Field Service A II rights reserved \7 DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE rain of shells that It did not seem possible that he could get through. Then 'Mac' pulled out cool as could be " A month later MacMonagle was the first man in Section Eight to be awarded the Croix de Guerre. "All the doctors at our post" came back a report to Paris, "are loud in their praise of MacMonagle. With iron self- possession, he loaded his car during a bombardment that destroyed the building used as a dressing station." In September, 191 6, he left the Field Service to enlist in the French Aviation Corps. He was trained at Avord and Pau, where he quickly came to be admired by his new comrades for the same qualities which had distinguished him in the Field Service. When he fin- ished his training, in May, 191 7, he was considered a good enough pursuit pilot to be attached at once to the famous Lafayette Squadron. He flew steadily and with increasing success from the time he reached the front until he was brought down September 24, 191 7, while on an early-morning patrol, in a fierce fight with eight German planes. He fell behind the French lines and was buried at Triaucourt, the entire Lafayette Squadron and many French officers as well attending the funeral, a company of American engineers firing the last salute over his grave. Douglas MacMonagle was loved for his warmhearted- ness. He was admired for his fearlessness. He came early to the great struggle and he did good work ; but the value of his services to the cause in which he gave his life is to be measured by the courage which he so often inspired in others as well as by his own achievements. 38 DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE Born February 19, 1892, in San Francisco, California. Son of Beverly and Minnie C. MacMonagle. Educated Hackley School, Tarrytown, New York ; Berkeley School, California ; Switzerland and Germany ; and Uni- versity of California, one and one-half years. Class of 1917. Joined Ameri- can Field Service, December 30, 1915 ; attached Section Three to May 20, 1916; Section Eight, June 20 to September 20, 1916. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted French Aviation, October 3, 1916. Trained Avord and Pau. At- tached Escadrille Ni24 (Lafayette). Killed in combat, September 24, 1917, near Verdun. Croix de Guerre with palm. Buried Triaucourt, Meuse. Body transferred to American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon Meuse. GERALD COLMAN KING Born November 22, 1878, in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Son of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Cornelius Low King. Educated St. Mark's School, Southboro, Massachusetts, and Pomfret School, Connecticut. U.S. Army, Spanish-American War, as volunteer. Joined American Field Service, February 14, 191 7; attached Section Eight. Invalided to United States, May, 1917. Died in hospital. New York City, September 27, 1917. Buried in Grace Church Cemetery, Jamaica, Long Island, New York. GERALD COLMAN KING To be obliged to fight the Spanish-American War as a bed-ridden fever patient, and then to end his effort in the World War on his back in a New York hospital, was the desolate lot of Gerald Colman King, volunteer in both of these wars. Although he was permitted to strike no direct blow in either instance, it is doubtful if he could have contributed more to the final victory, and to the development of his own character, than he did by his fortitude, his loyalty, and his unembittered acceptance of what fate had in store for him. A grumbling victory is in no way preferable to a cheerful defeat. Gerald King had his first taste of military service when he enlisted as a private in the American Army in the war against Spain in 1898. He was denied active service through contracting typhoid fever almost immediately,, and was confined at Camp Chickamauga. When America entered the War, King was too old to enlist in the regular army, so he chose at once the only other possible alternative for getting to France to aid that country for which he felt a very deep affection, fostered by blood ties. He enlisted with the American: Field Service. He had served with Section Eight at the front but little more than a month before he was taken seriously ill and sent to a hospital in Paris. In May he was invalided home to the United States. He was taken from the steamer direct to the hospital, where he died, September 27, 1917 — no less a victim of the cruelty of war than those who fell in the front line trenches. He lies now in the little graveyard of Christ Church, Jamaica, where, for many generations, the members of his family have been buried. Gerald King was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont^ November 22, 1878. He was the son of Brevet Lieu- tenant-Colonel Cornelius Low King, and grandson of 39 GERALD COLMAN KING Charles King, former president of Columbia College. His mother was Janet De Kay, daughter of James De Kay — all of New York. The Brattleboro Reformer paid the following tribute to Gerald King on learning of his death : "The old boys of Company I of Brattleboro, who, in 1898, when war against Spain was declared, volunteered their services to their country, just as thousands of a younger generation have been doing in the past few months, feel a sense of personal loss in the death, in a New York hospital, of Gerald King of Bellows Falls. Gerald was a soldier of fortune, a scion of a distinguished military family. He was only a youngster when he went with the Brattleboro boys to the fever-infested camp at Chickamauga, but he was possessed of an independent income, and when his little 'pink' checks arrived, he shared his patrimony freely with his less fortunate comrades. "His good cheer and kindliness will always be remem- bered by those who were associated with him in the days -when the young soldiers waited and waited in unsanitary conditions for orders to active service which never came. In recent years King has been well-known as an actor, but he turned aside from the stage to go to France as an ambulance driver, and while there was stricken with paralysis, which terminated in death in a New York hospital after he had been brought back helpless to this country." 40 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 30 Descended from a line of military forebears dating back to the days of the War of Independence, Henry Harrison Cumings, 3d, felt the urge of service so strongly that he was one of the first young Americans to reach the front under the American flag. Highly sensitive to the outrages being perpetrated in France and Belgium, Cumings' enthusiastic and right- eous nature revolted against German aggression. In March, 1917, he joined the American Field Service and sailed for France, to drive an ambulance. When the United States entered the war, a call was made by France upon the ambulance service for volun- teers for a munitions transport branch. Cumings was one of the first amhulanciers to join the munitions transport service. A companion wrote at the time "Henry was to go to the front in a few days with Sec- tion Eighteen. The transport service was considered more of a man's job, more arduous, difficult, and dangerous, and certainly of much use to the French government. I soon saw that Henry had his heart set upon being identified with the latter service, and one day he spoke of wanting to change, so we both went to the office and got changed to T. M. U. 526." Cumings was in the American camion units that carried to the French batteries much of the amunition used in the long and grueling battle of the Chemin des Dames which culminated in the glorious French victory of the fall of 191 7. His enlistment expired in September, 191 7. Pre- viously Cumings had attempted to enroll in the French aviation forces. He was rejected because of poor eye- sight. Anxious to re-enlist then in the camion service, he agreed in deference to his mother's wishes to return to the United States, to rejoin the army on this side. Cumings, somewhat envied by overseas comrades, sailed from France on the ill-fated transport "Antilles." 41 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 3d Three days out, early in the morning of October 17, 191 7, the boat was torpedoed. It sank inside four minutes. Cumings was among those lost. His letters to his mother proved him a man of rare sensibilities, with an instinctive appreciation of all that is good and fine. Even from the war he took the good and left the dross. His duty he assumed as a matter of course, and apparently found ample compensation for the horrors and hardships in the satisfaction and joy he felt in contributing his share toward a just and early peace. Henry was a talented musician and a pianist of merit. "Music was a large part of Henry," says his mother. "It was his very being." Highly intellectual, and gifted with an unusually responsive nature, war was naturally repulsive to him. But never for a moment did he lose sight of the ideals behind it, which he was helping to defend. One of his close companions wrote to the mother : "From the beginning Henry always put all his energy into his work, always doing it well. As sergeant and later as commander of the section I have nothing but the highest praise for his work and for his attitude toward whatever hardships came his way. Our work was often hard and very trying, but he was one of those who never grumbled, but always showed that fine spirit which is so much needed over here." Henry Cumings was born June 20, 1897, at Tiona, Pennsylvania, of patriotic New England stock, his families on both sides having been represented in the War of Independence and every succeeding war in which this country has been engaged. He carried out the tra- dition of his house. 42 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 3d Born June 20, 1897, in Tiona, Pennsylvania. Son of Henry H. and Bertha Pierce Cumings. Home, Philadelphia. Educated Buffalo High School, New York, University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University. Joined Ameri- can Field Service, May 26, 1917 ; attached Transport Section 526, to Sep- tember 27, 1917. Died at sea on torpedoed "Antilles," October 17, 1917. Body neA'er recovered. HENRY BREWSTER PALMER Born December 25, 1887, in Rochester, New York. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Palmer. Home, New York City. Educated St. George's School, Newport, Rhode Island, and Harvard University, Class of 1910. Bond business. New York and San Francisco. Joined American Field Service, June 24, 1916 ; attached Section Three in France and the Balkans to May II, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted Lafayette Flying Corps, June 7, 1917. Trained and breveted, Avord. Died of pneumonia, November 12, 1917, at Pau. Buried Pau, Basses Pyrenees. HENRY BREWSTER PALMER "Henry was indeed a splendid type of young Ameri- can, — the kind we are proud to have French people see," wrote one of Henry Brewster Palmer's friends. Handsome, reserved, sensitive, he showed by every word and action his character and his breeding, and few who knew him failed to surrender to the charm of his per- sonality. His interests were many and varied. He loved music and travel and books, and was an ardent sportsman. At St. George's School and at Harvard he played every game, and after graduation he continued his athletic career at golf, riding, and particularly at mountain climbing. From its beginning in 1914 the war came closer to him than to most Americans, through his love and admiration of the French for whom he had a strong sense of kinship, and in 191 6 he welcomed the opportunity to enlist in the American Ambulance Field Service, aiding France, and at the same time satisfying his longing for adventure. He worked for several months at Pont-a-Mousson with Section Three, and when it was selected to go to Salonica he went joyfully along, glorying in the chance "to do something of value for France." "I know you want me to do my share," he wrote to his mother, "and you would undoubtedly be more desirous if you could only see the wonderful spirit and self-sacrifice which every French woman is showing in these terrible times." His next letters came from "the wilds of Serbia," — charming, intensely in- teresting letters, — written with much keenness of per- ception, and breadth of vision, and full of fine bits of description. He gave himself utterly to the exhausting work, made doubly difficult by the rough hilly country and the ever present fever, and his devotion was recog- nized by the award of the Croix de Guerre, " for cour- ageous action in removing wounded in the region of Monastir." In May 191 7 he returned to France in the Lafayette 43 HENRY BREWSTER PALMER Flying Corps. The history of the Lafayette Flying Corps says of his training : "Palmer was considered one of the most brilliant Bleriot pilots among the later group at Avord. A flyer by instinct, he had a delicacy of touch and precision of eye that were wonderful, and his landings, light as eiderdown, were a delight to watch." "Henry's record in the school was as nearly perfect as one can be," wrote a friend, " he never did the slightest damage to a machine." In the remarkably short time of three and one half months he received his hrevet and left Avord for Pau for final training. There on November 12, 191 7 he died of pneumonia and was buried with full military honors in a corner of the hillside cemetery overlooking the shining river, whence, on clear days, one can see the white and purple Pyrenees. Cyrus Chamberlain, who was with Henry at the time of his death, and who was killed two months later, wrote, "He was one of the best and cleanest of us all," and the tribute is eloquent of the way in which men thought and spoke of him. Charles Bernard Nordhoff trained with Henry and his appreciation is typical of the countless friends who wrote to his mother on learn- ing of his death: "Always unruffled, cool, steady, and courageous, he would certainly have made a name for himself had he lived to get to the front, and his loss means not alone a void in the circle of friends who loved and admired him, but the loss of a bold and skillful pilot to France." 44 ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER Eric Fowler joined Section Four In the summer of 1916 and remained with It until July, 191 7, during the period of the Section's greatest activity and achievements. His share In its work and the place he made for himself In the hearts of many friends, as well as in the life of the Section as a whole, have been recorded In the fol- lowing extract from a diary kept by an older man who was much thrown with him at the front. "Eric," writes this friend, "furnished the bright colors to our background. No matter how dismal the outlook he was always on the crest of the wave. And how often did his heart-warming, merry laugh do us all a world of good ! Our men have all shown their courage at Marre, Cote 2^2, and Esnes. But Eric felt a contempt for the dangers of the service that was an Inspiration. Physi- cally he was a little giant and of extraordinary endurance. I remember one snowy night, when the road was lost to view, he dog- trotted as a path-finder in front of my car for four round trips between Montzevllle and Esnes. When, as happened more than once, I side-slipped Into a ditch, he would feed the blesse blankets under the spinning wheels and when I regained the road fearing to stop, he would overtake me, stow the blankets away and, with a boyish laugh and joke, resume his place in front of the car." When Eric Fowler left Section Four to enlist in the French aviation, he took with him the admiration and gratitude of his chief and the warm best wishes of every fellow driver. He completed his preliminary training at Avord with marked success and went on to Pau for advanced training In "stunt" flying. The sad circum- stances of his death, the day of his graduation, when his kit was packed and on Its way to the railway station, are related in a letter to his parents by Alan WInslow, a fellow student and dear friend. "I looked up," writes WInslow, "and saw one of the 45 ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER thirty or forty planes in the air diving out of control, nose downward behind a hangar. Then I heard the crash. Five mintes later I learned it was Eric Fowler and that he had been instantly killed. It was the last flight neces- sary to make him fit for the front, the finishing flight of five months training. ''Poor, fine Eric, what a shame he could not have died in battle, if die he must ! But, as it is, his death is a glorious death, for he died in the pursuit of his work, his ideals, and his patriotism " Fowler was buried at Pau with all military honors and Captain Orgeaix, the French Commandant of the school, in a speech by his grave, paid a glowing tribute to his courage and devotion. "Corporal Fowler," he said, "your death has not been in vain. You have served to bring your country closer to the soul of France. When we think of you, our eyes will always moisten and our hearts grip our bosoms " Those who mourn Eric Fowler find an abiding comfort in the words of his friend's letter, and in this tribute of his commanding ofiicer : " His death was glorious. His death was not in vain. He died in the selfless quest of a noble end ; in the full measure of his proud youth." "Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember, / How of human days he lived the better part, April came to bloom, and never dim December Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart." 46 ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER Born July 24, 1895, in Quogue, Long Island, New York. Son of Anderson and Emily Fowler. Home, New York City. Educated St. Bernard's School, New York ; Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania ; and Princeton University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, August 6, 1916 ;Jattached Section Four until July 10, 191 7. Enlisted French aviation. Trained Avord and Pau. Promoted to Corporal. Killed in aeroplane accident, Pau, November 26, 1917. Buried Pau, Basses Pyrenees. ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM Born September 15, 1883, in Ashland, Kentucky. Son of Daniel B. and Lida Douglas Meacham. Home, Cincinnati, Ohio. Educated Asheville School, North Carolina, Hobart College one year, and one year Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, Class of 1907. From 1906 with Rogers, Brown Company, Cincinnati. Joined American Field Service, March 12, 1917; attached Section Sixteen to September 13, 191 7. Died of appendicitis, December 14, 191 7, at Louisville, Kentucky. Buried Spring Grove Cem- etery, Cincinnati, Ohio. ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM "" It's strange the way things work out in this war," Robert Douglas Meacham wrote home, "one of our Frenchmen had been in the army since the beginning, but being rather old was taken out of the trenches and sent back here, a comparatively safe place, as a cook. He had been here only two days before he was killed." "Bob" did not guess that for him, too, things were to work out thus strangely and with as seeming little jus- tice. He returned from ambulance work at the front to enter a more hazardous service, and, having passed his examinations for aviation, was on his way home from Washington to await his commission when he fell ill with appendicitis and died as a civilian — yet no less a warrior. He had been often under fire. "Believe me," he had written, "it is some sensation to be flat on your stomach wondering if the next one is going to ' get ' you"; but no shells "got" him. He had served six months with Section Sixteen suffering more than most because always in his mind was a vision of what a shell might bring — of being struck and mangled. Fear stood ever at his side vainly trying to influence him. He heard its urging but unmindful, went forward into all dangers. Yet the trail of his adventurous life ended far from the cannon and drums and banners of warfare in a city hospital and the silence of unsung heroism. Those who know fear are the bravest. "Bob," after his schooling in the South, spent a year at Hobart and one at Yale. He was an athlete, for love of the sport, and, as a freshman at Hobart, played on the varsity baseball team. " As plucky a fellow as ever played a game, never losing his head," they said of him. "Never an exceptional student," wrote his brother, and perhaps, in his belief that in friendships was one of the biggest gains from college, "Bob" overstressed that side of undergraduate life. But he made some very real and lasting friends. He was 47 ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM "one of the most lovable fellows to be with I ever knew'^ writes one, "liked by everybody" says another, and "I know very few who are so much worth while." He was the object of hero-worship, too, on straight manliness as the words of a younger man show : " I was just a green youngster Bob's kindly nature and his clean- cut ways made me secretly idolize him." It means much to have a mother write, as one did who knew him well, " I wish my boy had known him." "With sufficient income he would never have entered business but spent his time with expeditions exploring buried cities of the old world," said his brother, and before the war "Bob" had already traveled in Europe, circled the globe, and made trips to Central America. He had gathered quite a library on Egypt and India, and an unusual collection of arms from various nations and ages. Imitations never interested him, and also in his contact with men "he had no respect for the sham, admiring only the true and genuine." Yet he was lenient to the faults of others, though never toward his own. He not only did his duty whenever called upon, but did it cheerfully, and at all times was to be relied upon to keep up the spirits of those about him. "Bob" had a delightful sense of humor, declaring the most seri- ous Poilu he knew was "going to be married when he goes on permission. Suppose that is what's worrying him." And with it he had a rare delicacy of perception and sym- pathy. " If I can only help save the lives of some of those poor fellows I shall feel that my own life has been worth while," he wrote. He never realized how much worth while his fineness had made that life of his for others. 48 ALDEN DAVISON Among all those "immortal dead who live again in minds made better by their presence ; live in pulses stirred to generosity, in deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for miserable aims that end with self," there is none more worthy of such place and tribute than Alden Davison. The background for his war experiences speaks elo- quently of the type of man he was. In his four years at Phillips Academy, Andover, he participated in all phases of school activities, contributing to each the force of his fine idealism and the power of his person- ality. He was interested in foot-ball, track athletics, hockey, and soccer ; he was a member of the Student Council, the Dramatic Club, the Debating Union : he was President of Forum and of Inquiry, and President of his class. As a final acknowledgment of his influence, he was given the second largest number of votes for the man "who has done the most for the school." The Phillips Academy memorial volume does him this honor : "Alden Davison was one of those rare and mag- netic souls who secure without effort the affection of all who meet them. Few young men of his day were more versatile and adaptable. The ability which won him his many distinctions was, of course, admired; but it was more especially his fine and upright character that made him a leader. He could be trusted always to cast his influence where it would count for good, and there was no worthy cause which did not have his si^pport." In 1 91 6 he enlisted in the Amercan Field Service, and during his six months service with Section Eight, in the Verdun Sector, he was cited three times for bravery, and once he suffered the distinction of having his ambu- lance blown out from under him. At the expiration of his enlistment he was obliged to return to the United States, being taken seriously ill with typhoid fever. It was a grievous disappointment to him, as he was eager to enlist in the Lafayette Es- 49 ALDEN DAVISON quadrille. In the autumn of 191 7 he had recovered sufficiently to enter the aviation service, and was sent to Camp Hicks, Texas, for his training, in the 27th Aero Squadron. There, on December 26th, the day before he received his commission as Lieutenant, he was killed in a practice flight. The instructor of his squadron wrote:" — I would cheerfully give half of my life if he were here safely to- night. He is the nearest to one of God's children I ever knew, and is mourned most deeply here, for every one was so fond of him. He was a man's man, and nothing can be said higher in praise than that." "Resolute, clear-eyed, high-minded," to quote the Phillips Academy volume further, "he made his ideals the guiding principles of his life. For him duty was something more than a mere word, and loyalty was naught unless it was revealed in sacrifice." Upon his death, the Board of Directors of the Rail Joint Company, with which he had been associated in business, had engraved and bound in morocco, a very beautiful memorial volume to him, whose preface was as follows : "Resolved, that the Board of Directors desires to express its deep regret at the loss of Alden Davison, who, in the service of this Company showed the same high spirit which prompted his ready and unselfish re- sponse to the call of his Country." In work and play, war and peace, Alden Davison in- spired the love and devotion of all with whom he was associated. Brief though his career, it represented years crowded with high purpose and accomplishment. Truly indeed, "He went through life sowing love and kindness, and what he sowed he has abundantly reaped." 50 ALDEN DAVISON Born July 6, 1895, in New York City. Son of Henry J. and Maria Alden Davison. Educated Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, February 28, 1916 ; attached Section Eight until September 6, 1916. Sent to America ill with typhoid fever. September 4, iQi?, entered U. S. Aviation Service. Cadet, 27th Aero Squadron, Camp Hicks, Texas. Killed December 26, 191 7, »n aero- plane accident. Buried Kensico Cemetery, New York. GORDON STEWART Born March 15, 1896, in Millis, Massachusetts. Son of Edward J. and Helena Felt Stewart. Home, Brookline, Massachusetts. Educated Brook- line High School, Chauncy Hall School, Boston, and Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, Class of 1920. Joined American Field Service, April 14, 1917; attached Section Eighteen to October 15, 1917. Enlisted U.S. Aviation Service. Trained, Tours, France. Died January 9, 1918, of spinal meningitis. Buried Tours, Indre-et-Loire. GORDON STEWART Gordon Stewart, during his school days, was well known through his athletic ability. Both at Brookline High School and Chauncy Hall School he was prominent in various branches of sport and was captain of the Brookline crew in 191 5 when the crew won the inter- scholastic cup. He won two medals from the Harvard Interscholastic Gymnasium Association and held the Greater Boston diving championship for two years. At the time of his enlistment in the Field Service he was a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Referring to his well-deserved prominence during his school days, his pastor writes of him : "Gordon was one of the few young men of my town who, being popular, yet was never conscious of his popularity. That humil- ity in conjunction with his courage and daring and won- derful wealth of humor made him the idol of all." With his brother Theodore he sailed for France on the first boat to leave after war was declared by the United States, and saw much hard work during the summer around Verdun with Section Eighteen, which was honored by a citation for the Croix de Guerre from the 126th Division. He had the misfortune to break his arm shortly after joining the Section, and was laid up for over two months in a French hospital with a very bad fracture necessitating several operations and much suf- fering, as the bone was not set until three days after the accident, and did not knit properly. Writing from the hospital of an impending operation, he unconsciously gives us a clear idea of his courage and nerve : "Expect it will be a bit painful, but guess I can keep up my record of not having let out a ' peep ' since it happened." What seems to have been harder to endure than the pain was his longing to get into the thick of things again. He remarks a little later : "I am trying to get over my de- sire to go back to the front, or at least I am trying to be contented, although the letters Theo writes me are like 51 GORDON STEWART a full dish of cold water held in front of a man who is dying of thirst. I just itch to get back and can't." Afterwards upon returning from ten days' convalescent leave in September, he writes: "While in Paris I took mental and physical examinations for a commission in the Army Flying Corps. I passed both with flying colors so that at the end of my training I will be a first lieutenant in the Flying Corps. It has been terribly hard to decide but I have made up my mind to serve my country to the last stitch." He was sent in October to the Aviation Training School at Tours where he was taken sick Christmas night, and died on January 9, 1 91 8, of spinal menin- gitis. As to his work as a cadet, one of his friends at the school exclaimed: "The French instructors here had already told me, before Gordon was taken sick at all, that he was the most promising pupil they had ever had. His own instructor wept when told of his death, not wholly for Gordon, as he said, but for the loss to the Allies." Had Gordon Stewart lived to return to the front as an aviator, he would have proved of inestimable value to his country, as he possessed in every respect the qual- ities necessary for the branch of service which he had chosen. Yet dying as he did, he gave his life for his country's cause as truly and completely as though he had been shot down in battle by an enemy plane. 52 ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH Soon after the war broke out, and while Ernest Leach was still but a lad in his teens, he faced for himself the issues at stake and decided that the cause of France was the cause of right and humanity. His financial condition was all that prevented his leaving for France. Mean- while he did what he could. He foresaw that America must sooner or later enter the struggle, and resolved that he and his friends should be ready when the call came. In his quiet way Ernest got together a group of his companions and induced them to join him in regular cross-country hikes after business hours and on Sundays to keep themselves in good physical condition. Often their courage lagged and it was always he who spurred them on, and though they thought him too enthusiastic, they followed him nevertheless. To further prepare him- self he took the regular course in infantry training at Plattsburg in the summer of 191 6. The hard work which Section Eighteen was called upon to do during the summer of 1917 around Verdun, and for which they received a divisional citation for the Croix de Guerre, only served to deepen his sense of duty and responsibility in the cause which he had always cher- ished, and for which he had long been preparing. He writes at this time : "Any vain curiosity that I may have had regarding war is quite dispelled ; war at its best is very bad. But I am glad the United States is going to do her part to end it, and in the right way Whichever way things turn out, I won't lose. There are worse things than losing your life in the best cause a nation ever had." For all his serious purpose, however, he had a lively sense of humor and a buoyant youthfulness that kept him cheerful. Ernest wrote: "One of the chief reasons, — outside the joy of living, — for my wishing to live through this war is to see how it ends." With the breaking up of the old volunteer Ambulance 53 ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH Service came the heartbreaking uncertainty as to where the greatest possibility for service lay. How he decided the issue, an extract from one of his letters shows: "It took all my will power to pick aviation as my service branch after I had seen a number of planes brought down in air fights and seen the results at close range. But I feel that if anything were going to happen to me it would happen just the same in one service as another. At least you can feel here as though you were doing your full part." And it was his full part that Leach did. To the long task of training he gave himself with the same resolute devotion which had already characterized his work at the front. The cablegram announcing his death in an aero- plane accident, January 21, 191 8, also stated that he had completed in two weeks a test which usually required a month, and that he was about to be commissioned. The spirit in which he met his death for that cause which had long since become a part of his very soul, is suggested by his own words in a letter written but a short time before : "If I don't come back, please remember that I do this willingly and gladly. I feel that the cause is worth all of me." That he was loved by his comrades is shown clearly by the cry of sorrow in a little poem written by Lieutenant Gilbert N. Jerome, of the Air Service, who was killed in battle in July, 1918. The loss of a brother in arms is felt poignantly in the words : " 'T is but a moment since he stood Here in our .little group And smiled and spoke, A moment's flight, and then He passes through the gate That bars our view, Leaving us desolate." 54 ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH Born November 4, 1895, at Hanson, Massachusetts. Son of Reverend A. Judson and Mary Lewis Leach. Educated Reading, Massachusetts, public schools. With First National Bank of Reading, seven years. Joined Ameri- can Field Service, April 14, 191 7 ; attached Section Eighteen to September 23, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation Service, October, 1917. Breveted at Tours. Killed January 21, 1918, at the 3d Aero Instruction Centre, Issou- dun, in an aeroplane accident. Buried Issoudun, Indre. JACK MORRIS WRIGHT Born July 9, 1898, in New York City. Son of Charles Lennox and Sarah Greene Wright. Educated I'Ecole Alsacienne, Paris, and Phillips Acad- emy, Andover, Massachusetts, Class of 191 7. Joined American Field Ser- vice, April 28, 1917; attached Transport Section 526 to August 16, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation Service. Trained at Issoudun. Commissioned First Lieutenant. Killed January 24, 1918, in aeroplane accident at Issoudun. Buried Military Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. JACK MORRIS WRIGHT "One glorious hour of crowded life, Is worth an age without a name." Jack Wright, First Lieutenant in aviation, was only nineteen when killed in training. His little hour was so fleeting, but oh, so gloriously full. Any tribute of words to his memory seems pitifully inadequate. His life, his death, his letters, now compiled in a volume, "A Poet of the Air," and the inspiration of his philosophy, consti- tute a memorial which outshines any amplification of this writing. For Jack Wright was not an ordinary individual. He was an artist, — a genius, who lived above and beyond the commonplace. By temperament he was well fitted for service in the air. His nature was naturally ecstatic, — soaring, — reaching out, and above. The wonder and glory of flying was always fresh to him. "It became akin to some divine privilege." This poet felt a call and sacred duty to write of flying. "So far there has been a soldier poet, a poet of the woods, a poet of all," he wrote, "but as yet there has been no poet of the air, — the wonderlands unknown, unfelt, unseen, but ever worshiped as God's own ground, or as the symbols of the highest soarings of men." It is difficult to reconcile a genius and artistry such as his with war. Yet it was just such exalted vision and liv- ing idealism, contagious to a high degree, which redeemed the war, with all its cruelty. With his death, Jack Wright ceases to become an individual. He becomes a symbol, — a symbol of all the youth, and hope, enthusiasm, and idealism, which poured itself out in the blood and deeds of every man who sacrificed his all in the past war. He becomes man's ideal of his truest self, realized.^ The following was written in explanation to his mother, while he was still in the Camion Service, waiting to be transferred to the Aviation, for which he had just passed his examinations. 55 JACK MORRIS WRIGHT "There are many reasons for my new action The choice between America and Peace, or France and War ; the desire to be ' one of them ' over here, and to feel worthy of France's beauty and her people's sym- pathy ; the desire to be able to say with pride that I had done something real in the greatest of all struggles ; the horror of shirking when boys like me are dying ; the thou- sand and one other minor reasons, that turn by turn as- sail me more strongly ever day." In another letter we sense that which actuated all his life : " If I could give my life to make a bit of idealism perfect itself, and live immortal on a mortal world, it would be the highest hope I could attain and the great- est happiness I could enjoy. If I were to live lukewarmly and die weakly, it would be the greatest tragedy I or any human could suffer." Jack Wright was an American boy of nineteen. He was horn in New York City. When a small child he was taken to France, where he remained until the outbreak of the ivar. He was educated in French schools. His playmates "were the children of the artists and poets of France. When he left America with the ambulance unit he had spent three years in Andover, and was about to enter Harvard. He spent six months at the front as driver of a camion, and three months learning to fly in the First American Aviation School in France. He had just received his commission as First Lieutenant, and would undoubtedly have been sent to the front in a few weeks time, — the goal of his ambition, when his plane met with an acci- dent while in the air, which ended his short hour. 56 PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY Philip Phillips Benney combined with his enthusiasm a special aptitude for flying which led his commander to write that he had "rarely seen in a pilote the qualities of courage, enterprise, and daring that he possessed." But it was his likable personality that most impressed "Phil's" comrades — that and his courage. "A braver, finer, and more lovable boy never lived. He seemed to make friends no matter where he was," wrote R. B. Hoeber, of Escadrille 103, and gives a suggestion of "Phil's" character and ability when he says : "Phil was the best friend I had over here, — we had been through all the schools together, where he was extremely popular and did ripping good work. Then finally when he got out here he was so happy, and, while he had a good deal of hard luck with his machines, he was flying beautifully." Captain d'lndy helps on the description saying that "Phil" "from his arrival won every heart by his intelli- gence and sincere good-fellowship," and his uncle tells how the same French officer "spoke several times of Philip's wonderful courage and what a great loss it was because of the fact that he was loved by them all," and himself adds, " No one could help loving him, he was so frank, charming, and brave." Having spent six years at Shady Side Academy, Philip entered the automobile business as a salesman, gaining experience there which led, when he was recommended for a reserve commission, after his summer of 19 16 on a battleship with the volunteer civilian cruise, to the re- mark that he was especially proficient in engineering. The spirit which later caused "Phil" to enter hazardous chasse work made it impossible for him to sit at home while France battled for her existence and in January, 1917, he gave up his business and sailed for France. He went to the front with Section Twelve of the Field Ser- vice, but despite his excellent record and friendships made, he was not satisfied, and when America entered the 57 PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY war he waited only until his term of enlistment was ended before joining the Foreign Legion as a private and then transferring to aviation. He entered into the training for a chasse pilote eagerly, saying that his eleven days of acrobatics at Pau "were the most wonderful days of my life," and speaking of the splendid flying days when he "worked like a dog, flying an average of five hours a day." His zest was unbounded and his happiness in service shone from his letters, while he had also a keen eye for the beautiful and was sensi- tive to the wonders of flying. He joined Spad Escadrille 67 where, his officer said, "So ardent was he that I had long delayed the moment of sending him against the enemy, fearing a little too much audacity and too little experience." On January 25, 191.8, with four other planes, "Phil" went on his first combat patrol. As they circled over Montfaucon seven Germans attacked, centering their fire on "Phil." Badly wounded and rapidly losing strength, he managed to land his machine within the French lines. He was hurried to the hospital at Glorleux, where two Frenchmen gave some blood in an effort to save him, but he died in the early morning. "How could I do less than give him a few drops of my blood," said one, "when he had given all of his for France ?" No words could more finely charac- terize Philip Benney than those of his French chief : "The poor little boy was worshiped in the squadron and admired by all because he was such a splendid soldier and of such a magnificent courage. He fell nobly, beauti- fully, facing the enemy in a real fight. Perhaps he envied such a death for a long time." 58 PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY Born June 28, 1895, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Son of George Andrew and Eugenia Hill Benney. Educated Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh. Volunteer civilian cruise, U. S. Navy, 1916. Joined American Field Serv- ice, January 8, 191 7 ; attached Section Twelve until July 11, 191 7. Enlisted French Aviation. Trained, Avord, Pau, and le Plessis-Belleville. Caporal pilote, Spad Escadrille 67. Died at hospital of Glorieux, January 26, 1918, of wounds received in combat over Montfaucon the previous day, Croix de Guerre with Palm. Buried, Glorieux, Meuse. CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS Born October 24, 1895, in Newark, New Jersey. Son of John M. and Mary Carroll Hopkins. Educated Newark public schools, Barringer High School, and Dartmouth College, Class of 1920. Joined American Field Service, May 5, 1917 ; attached Camion Sections 526 and 184 until August 6, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Killed in aeroplane collision at 3d Aviation In- struction Centre, Issoudun, January 30, 1918. Commission received after his death. Buried Issoudun, Indre. Body transferred to Fairmount Ceme- tery, Newark, New Jersey. CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS Upon reaching France and finding that men were being sought for the aviation service, Charles Alexander Hop- kins at once gave in his name as an applicant for a place in the flying forces, writing that he "could not resist when he saw 'Old Glory' beckoning." While waiting to be called, however, he served, for three months, ably and faithfully as a truck driver in the Reserve Mallet. He was not going to sit idle, waiting, while there was work to do. Certainly those who knew him best were proudly confident that, however hard it promised to be, if the way seemed that of duty, "Charley" would follow it. And he did. One of his teachers had said : "He is a type France and America and England will be proud of," and his record to the very end strengthens the force of the statement and proves it true ! Charles Hopkins was a prominent school boy athlete, yet the publicity had no effect on his sincere simplicity, and he held high place in the hearts of his comrades for the fine qualities of his nature rather than because of his prowess in sports. In the words of his football coach, "There was a boy who could spread sunshine most any- where" ; and praise as a man came before praise of him as an athlete. "Charley" held on to his perspective of values in life. With him friendship stood high and he made much of it. "We sure do miss him," says a college acquaintance, and the pastor of his church says : " * Char- ley ' was an ideal boy." His circle of friends was large, his interests varied, and his friendship was Valued. In Newark "Hopkins Place" is named in memory of him, and, quoting a friend, "Everybody had a good word for 'Hoppie,' and he surely deserved all the praise that was ever given him. To put everything in a nutshell, his per- sonality was wonderful." At Dartmouth "Hoppie's" reputation had preceded him, but again he kept his head, and although he became a track and football "star" he never let athletics monop- 59 CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS olize his attention. He was not a brilliant scholar but his instructor in English found in his conscientiousness and diligence something more to be valued than cleverness : "With considerable expenditure of hard work he has maintained at least a passing grade. He is not talented in facile expression, but his brain is alert and steady ; he can give answers intelligently and render sound judg- ment in emergency." Had he remained at college "he would undoubtedly have been one of the best ends and quarter-milers that ever came to Dartmouth," wrote a classmate. A professor remarks that "he played hard football without malice, but rather in the wholesome spirit of the game," and Gerald Stone, of his class, said : " He was a true friend, a loyal brother, and had a heart of gold, which accounts for the fact that he was one of the best liked men in his class." In the autumn of 191 7 Charles began training at Issoudun as a cadet in avia^tion. He proved an able pilot, although he was painfully injured in an accident in De- cember, which he describes casually enough: "I must have been making ninety miles an hour and was thirty feet from the ground when the wind caught my tail, whipped it around, and I dove straight for the ground with the speed of a demon. The machine was out of control and there was nothing to do but sit tight and wait." On January 30, 1918, while flying at Issoudun, Charles collided with another plane, "crashed," and was killed. Lieutenant Cooper of the Air Service wrote that he "was always an excellent flyer, cool and courageous ; he met his death like a true American, and as every aviator would wish to meet it, in the air." 60 NEWBERRY HOLBROOK "Of all the adjectives that might be used to describe 'Berry' Holbrook, the one that most of his intimate friends and classmates would agree upon, would be 'de- pendable.' But he was far more than merely dependable. He was a gentleman in all that the word implies, gentle yet manly, courteous and conciliatory, but firm in stand- ing up for what he conceived to be right. He was imbued with a high sense of duty, particularly as regards public matters which mainy of us so often neglect. He was am- bitious, but not for himself, for no man could have been less selfish than he. It was characteristic of him to say nothing if he could not speak well of a person." In the above quotation from one of his classmates, Newberry Holbrook stands out as a man who was eager and willing to assume his obligations to the world and to his fellows but, more important yet, who was endowed with the fineness and sensitiveness necessary to the car- rying out of these obligations without in any way an- tagonizing those whom he would serve. Not that he shrank from making enemies if it were in a just cause — he was always fearless where his principles were at stake — but his were the qualities which of themselves inspire love and respect. As an undergraduate at Columbia University and later when connected with the Phillips Chemical Com- pany, he was known not only for his strict application to whatever task he had at hand, but also for a breadth of vision at once practical and idealistic. It was but nat- ural that, with the organization in June, 1917, of the ambulance unit sent over by the City Club of New York, in which he was an active member, he should have been one of the first to volunteer as a driver, and should have been the man chosen to handle the complicated financial relations between the unit and the Club. As a driver and subsequently as sergeant in Section Thirty-two, later Six forty-four, he gave himself with an 61 NEWBERRY HOLBROOK energy and courage rare even in the ranks of volunteers. One of his comrades writes : " He was probably the most popular and the best liked man in the entire section, and by his devotion to duty, his unfailing patience and kind- ness had endeared himself to each one of us." For work at Verdun during the latter days of Novem- ber, 191 7, he was cited for the Croix de Guerre by the 37th Division of Infantry with which the Section was serving. Of the character of the work which he did the following extract from a letter written by his lieutenant is sufficient proof : "Ever since the section left Paris last August, Newberry, or 'Berry,' as he was affectionately known to all of us, has been my right hand man. He was one of the best drivers, brave, cool, and intelligent. And in our first difficult engagement he actually made more trips, and brought down more wounded than any other man in the section. Personally, I have lost a very true friend ; as his commanding officer, I have lost one of my most valued assistants." He died on February 16, 19 18, at Essey-les-Nancy, of typhoid fever, having refused to leave the section and go to a hospital until but a few days before his death. He gave his life as a soldier for the cause of his country and his fellowmen, nor was his sacrifice in vain. For as one of these fellowmen who knew him well has written : " In his death he still lives with us in his quiet, devoted, and un- assuming friendship. His dignity and his quality of ready and faithful service to all he held dear will ever be an inspiration that we may the better 'Carry on.'" 62 ..^^S5::«p^, r^-?^r^^. \ \- f V NEWBERRY HOLBROOK Born November 4, 1888, in Brooklyn, New York. Son of Francis N. and Julia Macy Holbrook. Home, New York City. Educated Morris High School, and Columbia University, Class of 191 1. In business, Charles H. Phillips Chemical Company. Joined American Field Service, June 30, 191 7 ; attached Section Thirty-two. Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance Ser- vice, September 22, 1917. Promoted to Sergeant. Croix de Guerre. Died, February 16, i9i8,of typhoid fever, Essey-les- Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. Buried Essey-les-Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. Body to be transferred to Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE Born October 25, 1897, in Danville, Illinois. Son of George W. and Laura Hoar Whyte. Educated Danville High School and University of Chicago, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, April 14, 1917; attached Transport Section 526, until August 28, 19 17. Enlisted in French Aviation. Trained at Avord and Pau. Killed in aeroplane accident, March 20, 1918, near Bordeaux. Buried Bordeaux, Gironde. WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE On March 20, 191 8, the University of Chicago lowered its flag sorrowfully to half-mast, honoring the death of William Jewell Whyte, her first regular undergraduate to give his life in France. Just as he was completing his training in aviation, Whyte met with an accident. His machine fell, like a wounded bird with a broken wing, from an altitude of 6,000 feet, William "fighting gamely all the way down," his instructor reported. But the odds were too great, and he now lies buried in Bordeaux, among as glorious an assemblage as the world has ever known. "Personally," writes his guardian, "there never was a finer lad. One could say nothing but good of him in any event, but it is especially gratifying to be able to say that he was always clean, courageous, and manly. He was large, physically, always interested in athletics, and was always popular among his associates." Young Whyte graduated from high school at Danville, Illinois, and in 191 5 entered the University of Chicago, where he was on the regular football squad. He was in his sophomore year when he enlisted in the American Field Service. At the end of his six month's enlistment, when this service was taken over by the regular army organiza- tion, he transferred to aviation, where he was a private in the Lafayette Escadrille. He was keenly interested in his work, and, shortly before his death, wrote to a friend as follows : "Flying is going as well as ever. I am nearly finished with my last advanced training and am expect- ing orders now any time. Before I can receive any really active orders, I shall have to receive my commission. Through some error I received appointment as a second lieutenant, and didn't accept it as I am entitled to a first. This was in January, and the government has been all this time trying to rectify the mistake and grant a new commission." He goes on to tell of having one cheek frozen through, on a high altitude test, and comments laconically, "They tell me I am living on borrowed time. 63 WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE But I think, don't you, that I have a long time loan." This same disregard of death, as long as it be so hon- orable a death, is clearly reflected in a^n article on Whyte, written by a classmate and fellow ambulancier. "On the campus many of you knew him better than I. From the most fortunate of you — those who knew him as a Fraternity brother in Delta Tau Delta, as a member of Skull and Crescent, or on the foot-ball team, — he won undying respect and friendship. Like you, I too came to count Jewell as one of my dearest friends. Last April he and I left the University to become am- bulance drivers in the French Army. For three weeks we were together, then bad luck separated us, sending him to one section of the front and me to another. "After that we saw nothing of each other until one September afternoon during my furlough, when, out of the cosmopolitan crowd passing the Cafe de la Paix in Paris, I caught sight of Jewell That evening we dined together in an out-of-the-way cafe. Next morning he was leaving for Avord to train for aviation, and I was returning to Verdun As we parted, I said, 'Well, Jewell, bonne chance, and I'll see you later at the Uni- versity or in Berlin.' "'I hope so,' he answered. 'But not many of us come back from the Suicide Club. But why worry? There never was a time when it was as easy to die as it is now.' "Those, I think, were the last words he ever spoke to any one from the University, And now, over a green spot in France, stands a white cross with the inscription : ' Mort pour la France William Whyte, Americain, Aviateur.'" 64 PERCY LEO AVARD With spring of the first year of the World War, Percy Leo Avard felt he must share, however humbly, in that su- preme effort which all France was making and he deter- mined to join the American Ambulance Field Service To the objections of his brother, Reverend A. J. Avard, he responded : "You've given your life to the service of God, why should n't I give mine to help His people?" In June, 191 5, his employer wrote in his excellent letter of recommendation: "Mr. Avard is not an adventurer looking for new thrills I cannot understand his attitude in that he should give up his work and his fam- ily ties to spend an indefinite part of his life in this sac- rifice." But those who knew "Pete" Avard best under- stood : his spirit was one of service, his fine ideals were of action as well as thought. To "Pete" existence was an amazingly interesting thing, exhilarating, zestful. "We only live once," he said, and in that span he wished to see as much of the world and know as many of its human beings as he could. He traveled far, eager to know life, and always he was well liked and made staunch friends. "Pete" was, as an- other has described him, "the very salt of the earth." Although born in England, "Pete" always considered himself entirely American for all his youth was passed in New York. Upon leaving high school he worked with The New York Central Railroad until 1904. Then, in- terested in mining, young Avard went west, returning in 1909 for his brother's ordination. He was in the State National Guard, but his real mili- tary career began in September of 19 10 at Fort Slocum,, New York, when he enlisted as a private in the regular cavalry. With troop "I" of the 5th Regiment, he went to Honolulu, returning for further service on the Mexican Border. He was an excellent soldier and a crack shot, and in the troop he had a horse which he had "broken" him- self, and which no one else could ride. At the expiration 65 PERCY LEO AVARD of his enlistment period in 1913, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, he secured his honorable discharge with high commendation, although told he would be commissioned if he remained in the army. For nearly two years in New York he was in the credit department of the Grolier Society, leaving it in June, 191 5, to join the American Field Service in France. After several weeks of active work with the Paris Squad, ^'Pete" was with Section One in Flanders. From Crom- beke to Beauvais and to the Somme, then in June, 191 6, to Verdun, the Section labored, "Pete" setting an ex- ample by his tender care of his wounded. After a year's service he returned to the United States, going almost at once to the Chuquicamata Copper Mine in South America under a three year contract with the Chile Exploration Company, but within the year Amer- ica joined the Allies, and " Pete" gave up all his plans to return and enlist in naval aviation. At the training sta- tion because of his experience he was made a petty officer. Hardly a month later he was taken ill with pneumonia at Charleston, South Carolina. He knew he was sick but not how seriously, and to save his mother from anxiety at not hearing from him, "Pete" had a nurse write that he had hurt his finger playing baseball and would be un- able to write home for some time. That was the day be- fore he died. Sincere, sympathetic, and unassuming, this boy had lived his life as a fine adventure in idealism. He sought no favors or advancements, he accepted the world as a friend, and seeking to serve it made his life a record of true sacrifice and faith. A gallant soldier, who joined to the strength of a man the gentle naturalness and enthu- siasms of a child. 66 PERCY LEO AVARD Born April 12, 1887, in London, England. Son of Alfred J, and Margaret O'Brien Avard. Home, New York City. Educated New York public and high schools. Clerk, New York Central Railroad to 1904. California and Arizona, mining. Came East, 1909. New York National Guard. Enlisted United States Army, September 26, 1910, Fort Slocum, New York; at- tached 5th Cavalry, Troop I ; served Honolulu, Hawaii, and Mexican Bor- der. Promoted to corporal and sergeant. Honorably discharged, Septem- ber 27, 1913, Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Credit Department, Grolier Society, New York. Joined American Field Service, July 31, 1915; attached Sec~ tion One, to July 15, 1916. Returned to America. Mining with Chile Ex- ploration Company, Chuquicamata Mine, nine months. Enlisted NavaJ Aviation, New York City. Naval Training Station, Charleston, South Carolina. Petty Officer. Died of pneumonia, March 26, 1918, Naval Hos- pital, Charleston. Buried in Calvary Cemetery, Long Island. HENRY H. HOUSTON WOODWARD Born February 27, 1896, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Son of Dr. George and Gertrude H. Woodward. Educated Taft School, Connecticut, and Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, Class of 1920. Yale Battery, Tobyhanna, 1916. Joined American Field Service, February 19, 1917; at- tached Section Thirteen until July 23, 191 7. Enlisted French Aviation, July 24th. Trained Avord, Juvisy, and Pau. Breveted October i, 191 7. Caporal Pilote, Spad Escadrille 94, December. Killed in action, April i, 1918, near Montdidier. Croix de Guerre. Buried south of Montdidier, Somme. HENRY H. HOUSTON WOODWARD Henry H. Houston Woodward, Caporal Pilote, Es- cadrille Spad Q4, of the French Army was killed in com- bat, April I, 191 8. Having been sent out to patrol the enemy's lines on the afternoon of that day, he was seen several times by other members of the patrol during an attack made on some German planes, then disappeared. It was almost a year later that the remains of his charred Spad were located about three kilometers south of Mont- didier, with a lone grave close by, marked with broken pieces of the plane. His brilliant sacrifice was the climax of a year's devotion to France and to the cause for which she fought. Houston's military career began in his association with the Yale Battery of which he was an active member, and at Tobyhanna Camp, in 19 16. In his sophomore year he resigned from Yale to enlist in the American Field Ser- vice, and sailed for France on February 19, 1917. He was sent to the front on March 31st, with Ambulance Section Thirteen, which was immediately attached to a French Division just going into line in the great Cham- pagne offensive. Thus he served his novitiate in France in one of the most terrible battles of the war. Tall, handsome, and of a remarkably winning person- ality, he made friends quickly in the Section. And as one of his fellow drivers writes : "When the section ran into very hard work during the offensive of Mont Cornillet, his friendships were cemented by a very great admiration for the tremendous and untiring energy and zeal which he devoted with all his soul to the performance of his duty as an ambulance driver and which enabled him to accomplish so much more than the rest of us. His cour- age, which appeared at times to amount to rashness, was in reality prompted by a desire to throw everything he had into his work without thought of reserving himself." It was this same desire which urged him as the summer wore on to turn his thoughts toward aviation. Here he 67 HENRY HOWARD HOUSTON WOODWARD felt would be an opportunity to give his all unstintingly, and on July 24, 1917, he enlisted in the Aviation Service of the French Army, with which he had thus far served. He was assigned to the French Training School at Avord, Cher, France, and later to Juvisy, made rapid progress as a flyer, and was breveted on October i, 191 7. Then fol- lowed a period of further training at Avord and Pau, to perfect himself in the art of flying, and in December he was sent to the front with Spad Escadrille 94. His life, from then until his death, was full to the brim of the things which counted most for him. Good com- panionship and friends, the joy of combat, and most im- portant of all, a work for which he felt himself admirably suited in a cause which he knew was just. As to the qual- ity of the work he did, one of his comrades in the Esca- drille states he was a most daring aviator, thoroughly skillful in the mastery of his plane and courageous almost to the point of recklessness. He was given official recog- nition for the descent of one German plane in a posthu- mous citation for the Croix de Guerre with palm. One need not touch here on the heartbreaking suspense which his family and friends were forced to undergo after the news of his disappearance, and before it could be defi- nitely established whether he had been killed in battle or was perhaps lying, badly wounded, in some German prison camp. What we do know is this, — Houston Woodward died, as he had lived and fought, a gentleman in word and deed, and a hero in the annals of his country. 68 CARLOS WILLARD BAER At Miami University, which he left late in his senior year to join the Field Service, Carlos Willard Baer was "one of the best known athletes and one of the most popular uni- versity men in the community." A college professor, who knew him well, spoke of him as "one of the most modest athletes that I have ever known." The fourth and youngest son of an Oxford, Ohio, clergyman, Baer was brought up in the university town and was therefore a familiar figure and a well-liked one before he graduated from high school. In the university life he quickly earned a place for himself, not merely be- cause of his splendid athletic abilities, but because of the fine character and personality which went with them. His father said, "We could recite enough to fill a volume in the way of pleasing memories of his life and then not have done. He was a boy of exceptionally clean life — with not one of the bad habits so usual in the lives of the youths of our day." This clean living was remarked by all who knew him, yet he was so natural, in his simplicity and lack of af- fectation, that Carlos Baer secured their affection as well as their respect and admiration. He was a member of one of the stronger college fraternities, Ake, and elected in his senior year to the men's honorary society, the Red Cowl. Of him the Dean of the Junior College wrote, " Mr. Baer had a remarkable physical development and was without question the most powerful man in college while he was here. He never at any time made use of his strength in a way which was a reflection upon him or his college. His conduct in every respect was above reproach. His habits were of the best and when he went from Miami, he left behind him the reputation of being one of her greatest football men, with the added distinction of playing a game which was of a character which met the full approval of those who believe in the cleanest kind of sports." 69 CARLOS WILLARD BAER Soon after war was declared Baer, with that eagerness to be actively engaged in the actualities of it which so well suggests the college spirit in those days of 191 7, en- listed in the American Field Service, sailing for France in May. There he joined the Camion branch in the field, and went out to Transport Section 184 of the Reserve Mallet near Soissons. Through the slimmer and fall he worked with the trucks, his strength being a great asset in the hard manual labors of carrying supplies and keep- ing his heavy truck in condition. Not wishing to enlist in this branch of service for the duration of the conflict, Baer did not sign up in the Motor Transport Corps when the Field Service was taken over by the army, but served out his enlistment period, then returned to America. In March of 19 18 he enHsted in the Engineers' Corps and was temporarily stationed in Columbus. While there awaiting orders for transfer to Fort Meyer, Virginia, he suffered an acute attack of appendicitis. The hurried op- eration was successful but a few days later Baer con- tracted a severe case of pneumonia. And this man of fine physique, weakened by his operation and previous ill- ness, died in the camp hospital on the sixth of April, just one year after our declaration of war. The whole of Oxford mourned his death ; the funeral services were held in the Miami auditorium, and the University battalion, comprising the whole student body, marched in procession to the cemetery. The number of his friends, the fineness of his life, the fidelity of his ser- vice, all identify the man. And nothing more fitting than the text which the pastor of his church used for his fu- neral discourse could be written down after the name of Carlos Willard Baer : "For he was faithful." 70 CARLOS WILLARD BAER Born February ii, 1893, in Alexis, Illinois. Son of Reverend Michael R. and Henrietta Parcel Baer. Educated in Oxford, Ohio, schools and Miami University, Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; attached Transport Section 184, to November 20, 191 7. Returned to United States, December, 191 7. Enlisted Engineers Corps as private, March, 1918. Died April 6, 1918, at Columbus Barracks, of pneumonia, following an operation for appendicitis. Buried Oxford, Ohio. SCHUYLER LEE Born July 29, 1898, in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Son of Reverend J. Bever- idge and Mynna Greenman Lee. Home, New London, Connecticut. Edu- cated German-English Academy, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) ; Latin School, Chicago ; Haverford School, Pennsylvania, and Phillips Academy, Andover, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, April 28, 1917; attached Transport Section 526 to August 6, 1917. Enlisted French Aviation, Lafa- yette Escadrille. Breveted October 22, 191 7. Trained Avord, Tours, Pau, and le Plessis-Belleville. Caporal, Spad Escadrille 96, January 10, 1918. Shot down and killed, April 12, 19 18, east of Montdidier, Somme. Croix de Guerre with palm, and two citations. His grave has not been found. SCHUYLER LEE Schuyler Lee has been described by one of his instruc- tors' at Andover as "handsome— Apollo-like," but he likeRupert Brooke, would have abhorred the thought of being remembered by such fame. Rather must we thmk of him in the words of Dr. Stearns, the Head-Master of Phillips Academy, as "clean, strong, and unsullied. Schuyler was still at the "school on the hiU" when the call to service came to him, and there his memory will always be cherished as one of its most precious heritages. He was a member of the K. O. A. Society, and a deacon in the Academy Church, sincere and manly in his be- liefs, with the courage to act always in accordance with them. When Dr. Stearns considered the formation of the Andover Unit for the American Ambulance Field Ser- vice, Schuyler was one of the first to whom he turned, and his trust was not misplaced. ^ With the majority of his unit upon arriving in France, Schuyler joined the camion branch of the American Field Service, with which he remained until August, when he was accepted for the Lafayette Flying Corps, and enlisted as a private in French Aviation. From Avord and Tours and Pau he wrote enthusiastic, joyous letters relating his progress in flying and telling of the fascination that his new work held for him. From Pau he went to Plessis-Belleville, near Paris, where finished aviators awaited their assignment to combat groups, and thence to the front with Escadrille 96, which was destined to be practically annihilated in the dark days that were soon to come. . , T- J -11 £ He quickly fell in with the life of the Escadrille, of whose record he was very proud, chafing only at the delay before he was allowed to go out seeking combat, instead of merely guarding other planes. On February 6th he wrote in his matter-of-fact way of a fight for which he was later cited : . r 1. j r "I had my first fight on the morning of the 3rd ot 71 SCHUYLER LEE February. Five French and eight Boches were in it. Three of the men with me got one, while one of our men was shot down. It is a totally new and unpleasant feel- ing to go out with a fellow and come back without him." On his return to the field, he found that his Spad had been perforated in twenty places by machine gun bullets. When the Germans drove toward Amiens in March, Escadrille 96 was summoned hastily to the northern battle line and took part in the intensive battles of that month. On April 12, while flying east of Montdidier, on patrol, Lee's motor, which had been giving him a great deal of trouble, must have failed him, for he was last seen slowly descending into the German lines. The Ger- man casualty lists reported him as shot down in combat, and since then his wrecked Spad has been found and identified half a mile northeast of Beuvraignes, Somme. He died the way he would have liked, — in the per- formance of his duty. As a friend of his said, trying to be reconciled to his loss, — "Schuyler's death was won- derful ! Young, clean, ardent — suddenly in mid-air." A French officer, pilot in the same escadrille, wrote of '^Schuyler to his father — "A perfect gentleman and model soldier, your son had won the affection and the sympathy of every one here. I can't tell you enough how much all here, officers and men, feel the loss of such a perfectly gallant comrade." As Major Fuess, who knew and loved Schuyler, said in his admirable book "Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Great War," "he lived true to his favorite passage in poetry : ' Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King — Else, wherefore born ? ' " 72 GRANDVILLE LeMOYNE SARGEANT "A MAN can't live in a country of fighters and not be- come a soldier. He feels down in his heart he is not doing his part." This Grandville LeMoyne Sargeant wrote in April, 191 7, already planning to enter aviation when his six months' Field Service enlistment should end. He went on : "The more I see of the French, the prouder I am to be descended from them." This French ancestry explains the ease with which he entered into the life about him in France and his eager desire to serve her. With his sincere love of the people about him went a clear-sighted belief in their cause. The two were knit inseparably to- gether into the very fabric of his being and gave strength and endurance to his will. "Many have been killed and more will be. It is up to the cultured and civilized people of the entire world to get in this and get in it quick." It was, he said, " One of the best moments of my life when I learned that the United States had at last seen her duty, gone ahead, and declared a state of war. A man cannot stay in France a week without realizing that our place is in this war with the Allies and the sooner the better." LeMoyne's character, prophetic of his later manliness, was apparent in his boyhood. "He was," wrote his school principal, "one of the finest high school boys I have ever known Such a clean-cut gentlemanly fellow and of such sterling worth." From high school in Pittsburgh LeMoyne went to Mercersburg Academy and then to Washington and Jefferson College. A fraternity brother wrote of him : "To an attractive personality was joined a fully matured mind and a disposition that was seldom rufffed. At times he was really too easy going but at all times he was the best of fellows." The College Secretary spoke of LeMoyne's being liked by his fellows and of his pleasing personality, and "regarded him as a young man of high principles." "A type," said a business associate of his father's, "that is unfortunately rather rare." 73 GRAND VILLE LeMOYNE SARGEANT "A fine sturdy young fellow," an older friend called him, and a teacher mentioned particularly, "his quick responsive mind and energy," qualities which stood him in good stead when he left college in his sophomore year and went to France in the American Field Service. He went to the front with newly-formed Section Sixteen, serving in the Argonne. "When America enters the war," he wrote, "practically this entire service will enlist, I think. Some are signing up with the Aviation Corps and others with the French heavy artillery. As for me I am going to study the question for the six months I am in the field and at the end of that time I shall have made up my mind what course to pursue." He decided for aviation and returned home, enlisting immediately after his twenty-first birthday. He was sent for instruction in radio work to the University of Pitts- burgh. There he became ill with scarlet fever, pneu- monia developed, and LeMoyne died on April i6, 191 8, before he had been given his chance to fight for France. But he had served the country he loved, he had fought his good fight bravely, and achieved a goal of duty well performed. Telling of their last meeting in Paris a friend gives LeMoyne's words : "Butch, I am going to try to get into aviation and come back, but if I am out of luck and don't make the grade, you and I know it's been a grand old scrap," and himself adds, " In that single idiomatic sen- tence LeMoyne Sargeant gave me the sum total of why we loved him and why his memory is honored." 74 GRANDVILLE Le MOYNE SARGEANT Born January 7, 1897 at Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Son of William A. and Ella Jolly Sargeant. Educated Pittsburgh High School, Mercersburg Academy, and Washington and Jefferson College, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, March 12, 191 7; attached Section Sixteen until September 14, 191 7. Returned to United States. Enlisted United States Aviation Service, January 12, 1918; attached Radio School, University of Pittsburgh. Died of pneumonia, April 16, 1918, in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. Buried beside his mother in Beaver, Pennsylvania. THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER Born February 21, 1894, in Morris, Pennsylvania. Son of John and Linnie Leonard Frutiger. Educated Morris High School, Mansfield State Normal School, and Oberlin College, Class of 1919. Assistant Secretary, West Side Y. M. C. A., New York, two years. Joined American Field Service, June 2, 1917; attached Section Twelve until August 20, 1917. Returned to America, December, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Tank Corps, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Transferred Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 302d Heavy Tank Battalion, as Sergeant. Died there of acute gastritis, April 19, 1918. Buried Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Morris, Pennsylvania. THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER "Tioga County lost a promising young man and patriot in the death of Theodore Raymond Frutiger, at an offi- cers* training camp at Gettysburg," lamented the Phila- delphia North American in an article of commemora- tion. "His is the story of a young life of great promise which was sacrificed on the altar of freedom." His story is also one of persistency and determination to get to the front, despite defective eyesight, and to help the cause which America held so dear. At the time Frutiger enlisted he was a student at Ober- lin College, and, like so many other college students, he saw in the Field Service an immediate means of helping the Allies in their great struggle. In June, 191 7, he sailed for France to drive an ambulance. About the first of September this service was taken over by the United States Government, and those who were in it were given the option of leaving or signing up for the duration of the war. Young Frutiger, desiring to get into more active service, left the ambulance work and sought entrance into the aviation service, but he was rejected because of very bad eyesight. Owing to the death of his father, he returned to this country in December, and in January he, with several other returned ambulance drivers, attempted to enter an officers' training camp. He was again rejected because of poor eyesight. He journeyed to Washington, D. C, and there once more he was told that they could not admit him. However he was not discouraged and informed thfe authorities that he would keep coming until he was accepted. Finally they wrote him, after his return home, stating that they had waived his defects of vision and that he should report at once to Fort Oglethorpe. After remain- ing there for a time a Tank Corps was organized, and Frutiger being anxious to get back to France, enlisted in the 302d Heavy Tank Battalion and was transferred to 75 THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER Camp Colt, Gettysburg. His mother received a letter from him on April 15th, saying that he expected to sail again for France in a few days. Then he was taken seri- ously ill, and a day later, before his relatives could be notified, he died of acute gastritis. Obviously it was no mere adventuring which stirred private Frutiger so deeply, and an earnestness such as his could not fail to have left its effect upon those with whom he came in contact. The strength of his determination to serve was an inspiration to others who were privileged to execute what he willed so intensely. He will be remem- bered by those who knew him as a man of fine character, who made friends readily wherever he went, and whose death was widely mourned. 76 CHARLES VIVIAN DU BOUCHET Charles Vivian Du Bouchet was the youngest of those American boys educated in France who hastened to join the American Ambulance during the early months of the War. His enrolment for active duty in September, 1914, at the age of fifteen years, is typical of the uncompromis- ing devotion and quiet heroism that characterized the man beneath the boyish carefree exterior. Of his service at the Front during the epic days of the First Marne, he said little, though we frequently tried to draw him out. We envied him the experience in the War of movement during the long stalemate at Pont-a- Mousson, where the time, destination, and source of every shell was a known quantity and every impercep- tible wavering of the front lines meant a thrilling victory or a gloomy defeat. Every section had its cast of typical characters, which remained curiously constant despite changes in per- sonnel. There always was a man who did most of the hard, dirty work ; there was the fellow who never did any work at all except under protest ; then the chronic grumbler, prophet of disaster and hopeless tragedy, with whom we expostulated, and whom we fled to find a more normal and cheerful view of life in the agreeable com- pany of gay Du Bouchet or Leif Barclay. Both of these, at different times, played the role of section "morale officer" in old S. S. U. Two. All of us received the warmest welcome from them. They always had time to help a comrade change billets or tinker with a balky engine. It was not strange that the French should have been quick to feel their sympathetic per- sonalities and to make them the Section favorites. Vivian's perfect command of French diction, not to men- tion argot, permitted him to arrive at a degree of inti- macy with the more intelligent French men and officers, which was denied Barclay and the rest of us. This inti- macy was soon reflected in an additional confidence in the 77 CHARLES VIVIAN Du BOUCHET Section and further privileges for all. As liaison workers, these two members did much to promote the mutual liking which made those days in the Bois-le-Pretre sector the most charming memory of the war for those of us who have survived. Nowhere was service more appre- ciated or personal contacts within and without the sec- tion kindlier. During the fall of 191 6 and the spring of 191 7 practically the entire section enlisted in the Foreign Legion for aviation service. Poor Du Bouchet tried with the rest of us but lacked the one absolutely essential faculty for aviation, perfect eyesight. This great dis- appointment did not induce him to "quit" as did so many others who had to be pilots or nothing. He was peculiarly fitted for liaison and interpretation work and was drafted for that service. No non-combatant service, however, could satisfy him for long. In the winter of 19 17-18, he succeeded in transferring to the U. S. Infantry. Let it be said that no one had a clearer idea of the hardships of that service than a former ambulance driver at the Front. He was severely wounded the fourth of May, 191 8, at Crevecoeur and was taken to the American Ambulance in Paris, where he died May i6th. He was awarded the D. S. M. and the D. S. C. Those of Section Two, who gave their lives in the air, would be first to accord the palm of most supreme heroism to Vivian, who quietly refusing to take shelter from his conscience behind youth and bad eyesight sought a certain and unspectacular death. 78 CHARLES VIVIAN Du BOUCHET Born abroad in 1899. Son of Dr. Charles Du Bouchet. Home, Paris. Educated Paris schools. Joined American Ambulance, Neuilly, September 3, 1914, as driver ; attached Paris Squad and served at front in First Battle of the Marne. Joined American Field Service, September 16, 1915 ; at- tached Section Two until February 10, 1916. Rejoined Field Service, December 13, 1916 ; attached Vosges Detachment to June 5, 1917. Enlisted, U. S. Aviation as interpreter. Transferred to U. S. Infantry, i6th Regiment, winter of 1917-1918. Died May 16, 1918, in Paris of wounds received in action near Crevecoeur, Oise. Buried Paris, France. Awarded D. S. C. and D. S. M. ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior Born December 9, 1896, in Boston, Massachusetts. Son of Roger Sherman and Louise Parrish Dix. Educated Country Day School and Harvard Uni- versity, Class of 19 1 8. Attended two Plattsburgh Camps. Harvard Regi- ment. Joined American Field Service, July 23, 191 7 ; attached Section One until October 21, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation, November, 1917- Trained as bombing-observer at le Crotoy, Somme. Commissioned Second Lieuten- ant, May 12, 1918. Killed in aeroplane accident, le Crotoy, May 15, 1918. Buried le Crotoy, Somme. ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior In the spring of 191 8, upon his last training flight at the French school, Roger Sherman Dix, Jr., met his death. The plane in which he was acting as observer "col- lapsed at a height of about six-hundred feet" and Roger and his French pilot were killed. A French flyer at the Ecole wrote : " Comme les autres fois, il etait parti con- Jiant, joyeux, et plein d' entrain. Helas, le mort stupide s'est trouve sur son chemin." Roger Dix left Harvard at the end of his junior year to join the American Field Service, and in July, 191 7> joined Section One near Verdun. With the veteran group he served through the very active summer of almost con- stant fighting. Section One receiving a citation for its work at this time. He added many friendships here, to those he had won in school and college, and earned the commendation of his Chef for his unflagging zeal and fi- delity to duty. In October he left the Service, enlisted in the U. S. Air Force, and later went, as a cadet in Ameri- can Aviation, to a French school .at le Crotoy, near the mouth of the Somme. "He wished to be trained as a pilot, but this would have meant a long delay. He was promised that he would be sent at once to the front if he took the training as observer," and so Roger was one of twenty-five who volunteered as bombing-observers. Having made his first flight in March, he completed his work with the best marks of any in his class, "was to have received the highest honors of any of my command," said his chief ; and he was to leave for the front in a few days, when the accident happened. Subsequently his commission as Second Lieutenant arrived, dated May 12, 1 91 8, two days before his death. Lieutenant Glover wrote, "He died while doing work in the air, and while holding the position of first in his class. More glory than this no man can claim for his son." He told, also, that in six weeks he came to know Roger as "a most excellent soldier both on the ground and in the air." 79 ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior Nothing can better show Roger Dix as a man and a friend than does a memorial letter, sent to his father, signed by each of his cadet comrades: "None of the twenty-four flying cadets of his detachment has words to express to you how deeply we feel his loss — to you, to us, and to the A. E. F. Easily the most popular member of this detachment, Cadet Dix was a loyal, gallant sol- dier, an assiduous student, an excellent airman, and a splendid companion. Every man counted him his friend, and he had never failed us. His fearlessness, his coolness, and his intrepidity had made it a foregone conclusion that his career in his chosen service would have been brilliantly distinguished and his tragic death is a double loss, to us and to the army, because he was the possessor of such splendid qualities." Corporal Robert Philip, his French instructor, voiced the sympathy and understanding which marked Roger's friendship with those about him in a letter to his father : " Ce hon camarade — il est mort en faisant son devoir de soldat americain, il est mort en brave ! J'ai, moi-meme en aeroplane suivi le cortege et lance des drapeaux sur le cor- hillard, supreme homage a notre cher disparu. Roger Sher- man Dix repose maintenant en paix en terre frangaise pour laquelle il est venu courageusement comhattre a I' ombre des drapeaux americains et franQais. Nous avians tous pu apprecier ses qualites nombreuses — excellent camarade, un coeur toujours compatissant, devoue travailleur et modeste." In the words of his fellows, written to Roger's father, "We have lost a splendid comrade, the Expeditionary Force a fine soldier, and yourself a noble son." 80 WILLIAM BECKER HAGAN At Arthur's Court, Sir Percival was styled the Gentle Knight. If ever modern knight deserved the name it was William Becker Hagan. His life, crowded as it was with interests and with deeds, is an unsullied record of up- rightness and chivalry, the pages of which one turns with reverence. <