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May 1, 1974

Dear Alice:

Among my papers from WW1 are citatons for alleged gallantry in action on two occasions in August of 1918. One is a diploma-like document suitable for framing.  It is dated March 27, 1919, and bears the signature (or a facsmile thereof) of John J. Pershing.  It attributes to me "distinguished and exceptional gallantry in action during the Oise-Aisne offensive, August 18,1918". It does not describe what happened, and to this day I simply do not know. By the time I received the citation I could no longer recall what I had been doing on the date referred to.

The other citation must have reached me still later, for it is dated June 1, 1919. It is in the form of a pamphlet, listing perhaps 200 men as "entitled to wear the Silver Star on the Victory Medal ribbon as prescribed by Paragraph 1, G. O. 75....".  The explanatory note after my name reads "for gallantry in action between the Vesle and the Aisne, France, August 9 1918, while protecting a photographic mission".  That is a bit more explicit, but not much.  I do recall flying on such a mission with Littauer, only a few days after we had moved to the Ferme des Greves.  That may have been on the 9th.

All the action in which our saquadron was involved that month took place over the strip of territory between two rivers, the Veale and the Aisne. The two, both running westward, gradually converge to join at Siossons, which lay to the west of us.  Most of my flights that month were single-plane missions.  I did routine reconnaissance, and at least twice I adjusted artillery fire for the corps's 155mm. long guns. But I also took my turns at flying protection for photographic missions. Through that whole month I had the good luck not to encounter any German who really closed in on me.

The camera man on that mission of (maybe) August 9 must have been either Jordan or Wheeler, but I do not remember which.  The order for the pictures was rather urgent, but the weather made our job very difficult. It was a day of broken clouds.  You could get useful pictures only in sunlight.  On a clear day the camera man would have finished his job in one straight, continous run over his target area. at an altitude of 3000 or 4000 meters.  On that day he ahd to photograph the area piecemeal, following patches of sunlight as the clouds moved.  Moreover we had to stay below those clouds to keep oriented.  We flew at only 1200 meters, which meant that each picture covered less than