who proceeded to carry out the aviator's mission. When the latter
reopened his eyes--for only a short while--he asked: "Where am
I?"--"North of Chattancourt, west of Cumières."--"Has the attack
succeeded?"--"Every object has been attained."--"Ah! that's good, that's
good." ... He made them repeat the news to him. He was dying, but his
division was victorious.

Near Frise, Lieutenant Sains, who had been obliged to land on July 1,
1916, was rescued by the French army on July 4, after having hidden
himself for three days in a shell-hole to avoid surrendering, his pilot,
Quartermaster de Kyspotter, having been killed.

During the battle of the Aisne in April, 1917, Lieutenant Godillot,
whose pilot had also been killed, slid along the plane, sat on the knees
of the dead pilot, and brought the machine back into the French lines.
And Captain Méry, Lieutenant Viguier, Lieutenant de Saint-Séverin, and
Fressagues, Floret, de Niort, and Major Challe, Lieutenant Boudereau,
Captain Roeckel, and Adjutant Fonck--who was to become famous as a
chaser--how many of these élite observers furthered the destruction
wrought by the artillery, and aided the progress of the infantry!

On October 24, 1916, as the fog cleared away, I saw the airplane of the
Guyot de Salins division fly over Fort Douaumont just at the moment when
Major Nicolai's marines entered there.[17] The airplane had descended so
low into the mist that it seemed as if magnetically drawn down by the
earth, and the observer, leaning over the edge, was clapping his hands
to applaud the triumph of his comrades. The latter saw his gesture, even
though they could not hear the applause, and cheered him--a spontaneous
exchange of soldierly confidence and affection between the sky and the
earth.