Pat holds August 17, 1917, as a day he will “not easily forget.” He has
fairly good reason for thinking the day a fixity in his memory, for, as
he says:
“I killed two Huns in a double-seated machine in the morning, another
in the evening, and then I was captured myself. I may have spent more
eventful days in my life, but I can’t recall any just now.”
Considering the fact that he had been shot down from a height of 8,000
feet the miracle is that he became “a prisoner of war.” His fellows of
the squadron who had seen the fight took it as a matter of fact that
he had been killed outright. One realizes that a chap who could come
through that sort of juggle with death was quite equal to his later
adventures.
Convalescent, after some time spent in a hospital, O’Brien was sent
to the officers’ prison camp at Courtrai, preparatory to transfer to
a prison in the interior of Germany. He remained there nearly three
weeks, to which he devotes an interesting chapter. He had many fellow
prisoners, and, of course, one frequent topic of conversation was
“what were the chances of escape?” There were many ingenious plans but
O’Brien did not remain to attempt to carry out any of them. September
9th he and six other officers were marked off for transfer into
Germany, and later were marched to the train that was to convey them.
They were objects of derision to the crowd gathered at the station.
There were twelve coaches, eleven of them containing troops going home
on leave, the twelfth, fourth class, filthy, being reserved for the
prisoners, eight of them under four guards.
He proposed to the other officers that if the eight of them would at a
given signal jump on the four guards and overpower them, they could,
when the train slowed down on approaching a village, leap to the ground
and take to flight. But the others turned the plan down on the ground
that if they did get free they would be recaptured speedily. O’Brien
therefore resolved to make a try on his own account by a leap from a
window when the train was in motion. After long self-debate, as they
were getting nearer and nearer to their destination he successfully put
his resolution into effect.