_42nd Division, 168th Infantry, Company “M”_
On the night of July 14 and 15, 1918, to the northeast of
Châlons-sur-Marne, near Souain, Lepley left his trench in a dense gas
attack, and made his way to a wood through a rain of shrapnel. He went
in search of two men lost from his platoon. He found them and guided
them back to the trenches. A few days later, near Sergy, he led his
platoon in a charge upon six machine-gun emplacements, which they
captured, together with over thirteen prisoners of the Prussian Guards.]
“I discovered soon that this precaution was not necessary, for the Hun
kept spinning down to the ground. He landed with a crash.
“A few minutes later I landed two fields away from the wreck and ran
over to see the kill I had made.
“I had hit the Hun about fifty times and had nearly cut off both his
legs at the hips.
“There was nothing left in the line of souvenirs, as the Tommies had
gotten to the wreck before I did. I carried off a piece of his props
and had a stick made of it. That night we had a celebration over the
first Hun I had brought down behind our own line since I became a pilot.
“Next day I went out to get another Hun to add to my collection. I was
in the act of crossing the Hun lines when, bang! to the right of me
came a thud, and my engine stopped. Revenge, I thought. I volplaned to
the ground, made a good landing in a field just behind our lines, and,
’phoning up the squad, I then had another engine brought out to replace
mine.