Page:For remembrance, soldier poets who have fallen in the war, Adcock, 1920.djvu/155

Rh fighting squadron in France, and before long he won fame there as a fighter, and was awarded the D.S.C. 'for great skill and bravery as a fighting pilot,' but when this award was gazetted he had already fallen in battle. On the 27th February 1918, says the report of his commanding officer, 'he was shot down by six German aircraft which he attacked single-handed out to sea.' Wishing to break the enemy's formation, and so make it easier for his less-experienced followers to attack, he had outdistanced his flight. 'He hit the enemy and they hit his machine, which burst into flames; but, not a bit flurried, he nose-dived, flattened out, and landed perfectly on the water. He climbed out of his machine and waved his fellow-pilots back to their base; being in aeroplanes (not sea-planes) they could not assist him.' Search parties were sent out to his rescue immediately, but he was seen no more.

There are stories of his daring, his wonderful courage, his chivalry, his ready self-sacrifice, his unfailing cheerfulness and