Deeds of heroism and bravery : $b The book of heroes and personal daring
History
Deeds of heroism and bravery : $b The book of heroes and personal daring
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
It was Sept. 11, 1918. It was Guynemer’s last flight. All that is known
of it Bozon-Verduras tells. Somewhat northeast of Ypres, at an altitude
of 12,000 feet, a two-seater enemy machine was discovered. Directing
Lieut. Bozon-Verduras to take a position above to guard against rescue,
Guynemer rushed to the attack. While on guard the Lieutenant detected a
distant enemy formation and drove forward to intercept its course. But
without seeing him the formation changed its course and the Lieutenant
returned to position. He did not, however, see Guynemer’s machine, nor
did several hours of extended search lead to any trace above or below
of the vanished aviator. His fuel exhausted, the Lieutenant returned to
the aerodrome hoping Guynemer might be there. But he was not. All day
they waited for his return. He never returned. “Undoubtedly,” said some
one of the men, “he has been taken prisoner.”
Says M. Bordeaux:
“Guynemer a prisoner! He had said one day, laughingly, ‘The Boche
will never have me alive’—but his laugh was terrible. No one believed
Guynemer to be a prisoner. What then?”
Nothing more is known. The Germans made contradictory and unreliable
reports about his death. The simple minded among the French believe
their hero an immortal, taken up into his native heaven. The lofty
minded French name him “Héros légendaire, tombé en plein ciel de
gloire, après trois ans de lutte ardente,” and this they have inscribed
on a marble plaque in the crypt of the Panthéon, that temple which the
French hold sacred as the “Sepulcher of Great Men.”
WORTHY CITATION
A Distinguished Service on the Battle Front for Which No Honors
Provision Has Been Made
There is a kind of heroism that never gets tagged. Many would not
think it heroism. But when you come to analyze heroism into its
elemental parts you find that it is a spiritual energy with myriad
forms of expression, though these forms always have the character of
self-dedication to an altruistic service. By that definition Capt. E.
W. Zinn takes place in the ranks of war heroes; but if you have not
seen what _The Stars and Stripes_—the official newspaper of the A. E.
F., published in France—has said about him you probably never have
heard of Capt. Zinn and his self-appointed mission. It is well to know
about him; so here is the story as it appeared in the official organ:
“It was Captain Zinn, a veteran of the French Foreign Legion and the
Lafayette Escadrille, who, when eager young American aviators, fresh
from their training-camps, reported for duty where the fighting was,
assigned them to squadrons and each to a particular airplane. Thus it
was that he came to know them all. He sent them to their stations.
He knew what ships they would pilot in combat in the air, on bombing
expeditions, on reconnaissances over the lines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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