Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/306

288 miles. A heavy sea made it highly probable that his frail boat, already damaged by his combat with the enemy, would collapse and that he would be drowned or captured and made a prisoner of war. For this act of courageous devotion to duty I recommended Ensign Hammon for the Congressional Medal of Honour.

The mention of this officer calls to my mind the exploits of Lieutenant-Commander A. L. Gates, who was the second of only three officers attached to the Naval Forces in Europe whom I recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honour. The citation in the case of Gates reads as follows and needs no elaboration to prove the calibre of the man: 44 This officer commanded the U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk, France, with very marked efficiency and under almost constant shell and bomb fire from the enemy. Alone and unescorted he rescued the crew of a British airplane wrecked in the sea off Ostend, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the British Government. This act of bravery was actually over and above the duties required of this officer and in itself demonstrates the highest type of courage. Lieutenant-Commander Gates took part in a number of flights over the enemy lines and was shot down in combat and taken prisoner by the enemy. He made several heroic and determined attempts to escape. During all of his service this officer was a magnificent example of courage, modesty, and energetic devotion to duty. He at all times upheld the very highest traditions of the Naval Service."

Volumes could well be written about the work of these splendid young Americans—of how Ensign Stephen Potter shot down in flames an enemy seaplane from a position over Heligoland Bight; unfortunately he made the supreme sacrifice only a month later when he in turn was shot down in flames and fell to his resting-place in the North Sea; and of De Cernea and Wilcox and Ludlow. Theirs was the spirit which dominated the entire Force and which made it possible to accomplish what seemed at times to be almost the impossible. It was the superior "will to victory" which proved to be invincible.