Prison Camp Witnesses O’Brien Last Fight and Fall
Synopsis follows Pat O’Brien of Momence after service in the American Flying Corps on the Mexican border. He joins the British Royal Flying Corps in Canada, trains, and fights Germans in France. In a four on one duel he is shot down, falls eight thousand feet, and wakes a prisoner in a German hospital with a bullet in his mouth.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pat O'Brien
Momence
Til
Wervice
Filying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
Canada
France
O'Brien
War Office
Paul Raney
Toronto
Raney
England
Flanders
Per
Battle in the skies and a German prison tale
A Royal Flying Corps airman recounts his capture in Belgium after a fierce dogfight with German forces near Courtrai. He describes hospital life, patient cruelty and mercy, a poignant friendship with Paul Raney of Toronto, and the grim reality of war, including a map of Raney’s burial. He notes the Germans’ interest in American involvement and ends with his transfer to the Courtrai officers' prison.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Courtrai
Intelligence Department
Prison Camp at Courtrai Described by an American Flyer
An American inmate recalls two weeks in Courtrai prison camp amid daily Allied air raids. He details guards, a red Bavarian cap, barter for bread and coffee, cooties fumigation, prisoners’ meals, and a blue-eyed view of German aviation over the town, while noting resilience and hunger in captivity.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jersey City
N. 3
America
Germany
Courtrai
Courtral
Knisee
Ife
Alrroan
Boon
Escape Bid Behind German Prisoner Wagon
O'Brien, traveling with fellow prisoners toward a German camp, leaped from the moving car through a window in a bold bid for liberty. The daring act carried a one in a thousand chance of surviving or avoiding recapture as he faced imminent danger.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Germany
O'Brien
Also Mentioned on This Page
Pat. O'Brien
Pat Alva
Dll
San Francisco
RR. B.C. F
Paul
Giso
Keith
Australia
German Flying Corps
Belgium
ELF
A.o'meien
Rf.g
Faoked
Ben Browne
Reixter
Ogemanding Fo- 46
O’brien
American Relief Committee
Cieutenant O'Brien
Dickson
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