Flying for France: With the American Escadrille at VerdunMcConnell, James R. (James Rogers)
History
Flying for France: With the American Escadrille at Verdun
McConnell, James R. (James Rogers)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations
Darkness was coming rapidly on but Prince and Lufbery remained in the
air to protect the bombardment fleet. Just at nightfall Lufbery made
for a small aviation field near the lines, known as Corcieux.
Slow-moving machines, with great planing capacity, can be landed in
the dark, but to try and feel for the ground in a Nieuport, which
comes down at about a hundred miles an hour, is to court disaster. Ten
minutes after Lufbery landed Prince decided to make for the field. He
spiraled down through the night air and skimmed rapidly over the trees
bordering the Corcieux field. In the dark he did not see a
high-tension electric cable that was stretched just above the tree
tops. The landing gear of his airplane struck it. The machine snapped
forward and hit the ground on its nose. It turned over and over. The
belt holding Prince broke and he was thrown far from the wrecked
plane. Both of his legs were broken and he naturally suffered internal
injuries. In spite of the terrific shock and his intense pain Prince
did not lose consciousness. He even kept his presence of mind and
gave orders to the men who had run to pick him up. Hearing the hum of
a motor, and realizing a machine was in the air, Prince told them to
light gasoline fires on the field. "You don't want another fellow to
come down and break himself up the way I've done," he said.
Lufbery went with Prince to the hospital in Gerardmer. As the
ambulance rolled along Prince sang to keep up his spirits. He spoke of
getting well soon and returning to service. It was like Norman. He
was always energetic about his flying. Even when he passed through
the harrowing experience of having a wing shattered, the first thing
he did on landing was to busy himself about getting another fitted in
place and the next morning he was in the air again.
No one thought that Prince was mortally injured but the next day he
went into a coma. A blood clot had formed on his brain. Captain Haff
in command of the aviation groups of Luxeuil, accompanied by our
officers, hastened to Gerardmer. Prince lying unconscious on his bed,
was named a second lieutenant and decorated with the Legion of Honor.
He already held the Médaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre. Norman
Prince died on the 15th of October. He was brought back to Luxeuil and
given a funeral similar to Rockwell's. It was hard to realize that
poor old Norman had gone. He was the founder of the American
escadrille and every one in it had come to rely on him. He never let
his own spirits drop, and was always on hand with encouragement for
the others. I do not think Prince minded going. He wanted to do his
part before being killed, and he had more than done it. He had, day
after day, freed the line of Germans, making it impossible for them to
do their work, and three of them he had shot to earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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