A Distinguished Service on the Battle Front for Which No Honors
Provision Has Been Made
There is a kind of heroism that never gets tagged. Many would not
think it heroism. But when you come to analyze heroism into its
elemental parts you find that it is a spiritual energy with myriad
forms of expression, though these forms always have the character of
self-dedication to an altruistic service. By that definition Capt. E.
W. Zinn takes place in the ranks of war heroes; but if you have not
seen what _The Stars and Stripes_—the official newspaper of the A. E.
F., published in France—has said about him you probably never have
heard of Capt. Zinn and his self-appointed mission. It is well to know
about him; so here is the story as it appeared in the official organ:
“It was Captain Zinn, a veteran of the French Foreign Legion and the
Lafayette Escadrille, who, when eager young American aviators, fresh
from their training-camps, reported for duty where the fighting was,
assigned them to squadrons and each to a particular airplane. Thus it
was that he came to know them all. He sent them to their stations.
He knew what ships they would pilot in combat in the air, on bombing
expeditions, on reconnaissances over the lines.
“And now he seeks for those he sent out and who never returned. He
asked that he might do it. If you talk to Captain Zinn about it, you
know why he made the request. You know how he feels about that which he
is doing. There is no mawkish sentiment about Captain Zinn.
“But deep down within him Captain Zinn feels that he and no other
should go out on the mission that now engages him. He has an interest
that is intimate and personal.
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© _International News._