"The last message I received over the wireless," he said,
"before I destroyed it, read, 'Your message understood. We
are returning. Our movements will be explained as manoeuvres.
And," added the general, "The English, having driven us back,
will be willing to officially accept that explanation. As
manoeuvres, this night will go down into history. Return to
the hotel," he commanded, "And in two months you can rejoin
your regiment."

On the morning after the invasion the New York Republic
published a map of Great Britain that covered three columns
and a wood-cut of Ford that was spread over five. Beneath it
was printed: "Lester Ford, our London correspondent, captured
by the Germans; he escapes and is the first to warn the
English people."

On the same morning, In an editorial in The Times of London,
appeared this paragraph:

"The Germans were first seen by the Hon. Arthur Herbert, the
eldest son of Lord Cinaris; Mr. Patrick Headford Birrell--
both of Balliol College, Oxford; and Mr. Lester Ford, the
correspondent of the New York Republic. These gentlemen
escaped from the landing party that tried to make them
prisoners, and at great risk proceeded in their motor-car
over roads infested by the Germans to all the coast towns of
Norfolk, warning the authorities. Should the war office fail
to recognize their services, the people of Great Britain will
prove that they are not ungrateful."