Then came Chapman's last fight. Before leaving, he had put two bags of
oranges in his machine to take to Balsley, who liked to suck them to
relieve his terrible thirst, after the day's flying was over. There
was an aërial struggle against odds, far within the German lines,
and Chapman, to divert their fire from his comrades, engaged several
enemy airmen at once. He sent one tumbling to earth, and had forced
the others off when two more swooped down upon him. Such a fight is
a matter of seconds, and one cannot clearly see what passes. Lufbery
and Prince, whom Chapman had defended so gallantly, regained the
French lines. They told us of the combat, and we waited on the field
for Chapman's return. He was always the last in, so we were not much
worried. Then a pilot from another fighting escadrille telephoned us,
that he had seen a Nieuport falling. A little later the observer of
a reconnaissance airplane called up and told us how he had witnessed
Chapman's fall. The wings of the plane had buckled, and it had dropped
like a stone he said.
We talked in lowered voices after that; we would read the pain in one
another's eyes. If only it could have been some one else, was what we
all thought, I suppose. To lose Victor was not an irreparable loss to
us merely, but to France, and to the world as well. I kept thinking of
him lying over there, and of the oranges he was taking to Balsley. As
I left the field I caught sight of Victor's mechanician leaning against
the end of our hangar. He was looking northward into the sky where his
_patron_ had vanished, and his face was very sad.
By this time Prince and Hall had been made adjutants, and we corporals
transformed into sergeants. I frankly confess to a feeling of marked
satisfaction at receiving that grade in the world's finest army. I was
a far more important person, in my own estimation, than I had been as
a second lieutenant in the militia at home. The next impressive event
was the awarding of decorations. We had assisted at that ceremony
for Cowdin at Luxeuil, but this time three of our messmates were to
be honoured for the Germans they had brought down. Rockwell and Hall
received the _Médaille Militaire_ and the _Croix de Guerre_, and Thaw,
being a lieutenant, the _Légion d'honneur_ and another "palm" for the
ribbon of the _Croix de Guerre_ he had won previously. Thaw, who came
up from Paris specially for the presentation, still carried his arm in
a sling.
There were also decorations for Chapman, but poor Victor, who so often
had been cited in the Orders of the Day, was not on hand to receive
them.