The Red Baron and friends & family

Presumably Herb doesn't know this, but the day before he writes this letter the Australians shoot down the famous Red Baron.  The History Channel tells it this way:

In the well-trafficked skies above the Somme River in France, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as the Red Baron," is killed by Allied fire on April 21, 1918.

Richthofen, the son of a Prussian nobleman, switched from the German army to the Imperial Air Service in 1915. By 1916, he was terrorizing the skies over the Western Front in an Albatross biplane, downing 15 enemy planes by the end of the year, including one piloted by British flying ace Major Lanoe Hawker. In 1917, Richthofen surpassed all flying-ace records on both sides of the Western Front and began using a Fokker triplane, painted entirely red in tribute to his old cavalry regiment. Although only used during the last eight months of his career, it was this aircraft with which Richthofen was most commonly associated and that led to an enduring English nickname for the German pilot—the Red Baron.

On April 21, 1918, with 80 victories under his belt, Richthofen led his squadron of triplanes deep into Allied territory in France on a search for British observation aircraft. The flight drew the attention of an Allied squadron led by Canadian Royal Air Force pilot Captain Arthur Roy Brown. As Richthofen pursued a plane piloted by Brown's compatriot, Wilfred R. May, the Red Baron ventured too far into enemy territory and too low to the ground. Two miles behind the Allied lines, just as Brown caught up with Richthofen and fired on him, the chase passed over an Australian machine-gun battery, whose riflemen opened fire. Richthofen was hit in the torso; though he managed to land his plane alongside the road from Corbie to Bray, near Sailley-le-Sac, he was dead by the time Australian troops reached him. Brown is often given credit for downing Richthofen from the air, though some claimed it was actually an Australian gunner on the ground who fired the fatal shot; debate continues to this day.

Manfred von Richthofen was buried by the Allies in a small military cemetery in Bertangles, France, with full military honors. He was 25 years old at the time of his death. His body was later moved to a larger cemetery at Fricourt. In 1925, it was moved again, at the behest of his brother, Karl Bolko, this time to Berlin, where he was buried at Invaliden Cemetery in a large state funeral. In a time of wooden and fabric aircraft, when 20 air victories ensured a pilot legendary status, the Red Baron downed 80 enemy aircraft and went down in history as one of the greatest heroes to emerge from World War I on either side of the conflict.

On smaller matters - I don't know who Aunt Ann might be, nor do I recognize Miss Pearsall, but I can follow my cousin Chuck's lead and do a little Ancestry.com research for folks living near by. And we have another mention of Marine... I suspect she is younger than Herb by a bit, but who is she? Apparently she is important enough to have had her photograph sent to Herb, mentioned here. Might she be a friend of Margaret or Olive?

April 22 (1918)

Dear Mother,

Just a few lines to let you know that I am quite all right. Everything I just as usual very quiet – and one day is quite like another. I guess Spring must have come because many of the trees are partially leaved out and some of the fruit trees are in bloom but it still continues pretty raw and rains most every day.

I had a post card from Aunt Ann a few days ago and a letter from Karolyn but none from you for ten days or so. I wrote to Miss Pearsall the other day.

We are getting the Paris edition of the London Daily Mail every day now so I’m keeping up on the news. The war seems to be going very satisfactorily, but Lord, I do wish it would move faster. This life seems to suit some of the boys very well, but I’ll never be happy till I see the well known Statue of Liberty looming in to sight.

How’s Harry making out? Have him write me + tell me all about it. You know I wrote him when I thought he was still in Indiana but I suppose by the time that letter arrived he was back home.

Love to all,

Herb

That letter from Marine was a peach. Tell her to write me some more.

Herb