Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky SpyHaslett, Elmer
History
Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky Spy
Haslett, Elmer
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
“Oh,” he laughed sarcastically, “how could any nation make the sacrifice
that America was prepared to make and yet expect to gain nothing
material from it. That is not to be expected. But,” he continued, “the
truth of the matter is this. Your President had made us so many
promises, so many speeches in which he stated that he was the friend of
the German people that, when it came to the worst, we took him up—for
the German people expected that he would make good on some of his
utterances, but, when the terms of the armistice were made public, they
knew that either Wilson had been overruled, or that the German people
had been a bunch of suckers and had bitten the wrong bait.”
“But at that,” he emphasized, “the Germans feel no natural animosity
toward the Americans, but they hate the French and despise the English.”
Kapp told us that our destination was Villingen, which was a prison camp
in the State of Baden. The journey was very slow on account of the
congestion, so the day before we arrived there, as we were sidetracked
at one town, Kapp left us to call Landshut on the long distance. When he
returned, we knew that something was terribly wrong—he was as pale as a
ghost. Poor old Kapp! I never saw a man so nervous and upset. He acted
like a rooky after being bawled out by a drill sergeant, and he fidgeted
and twisted like an old maid about to say the words “I do.” Finally, I
summoned enough courage to ask him what it was all about, for I thought
perhaps that hostilities had been resumed.
“Anything wrong, Herr Kapp?” I asked.
“Wrong!” he ejaculated bitterly. “Hell, everything’s wrong!”
“What do you mean?” we all anxiously asked, for his attitude was just
cause for alarm.
“Well,” he went on, “I have just called Landshut and they are
demobilizing the camp to-day, and the men are all going to their homes.”
“What’s the matter with that?” I inquired, for this was to my mind the
natural thing to do.
“Oh, my,” he said, surprised at our lack of understanding, “That car of
Red Cross food arrived for you prisoners, and the rest of the camp
officials will hook it all before I get back to get my share.”
All the way on the journey, Kapp had talked about the very nice girl he
knew in Villingen, and that he was surely going to visit her for a few
days before he returned to Landshut. So, as we were pulling into
Villingen, I told Kapp that I certainly hoped he would have a pleasant
visit with his girl friend at Villingen.
“Visit nothing,” he came back emphatically, “I’m going to turn you
prisoners over to the authorities here and take the first train back to
Landshut. There may yet be a little of that Red Cross food left.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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