Philip A Embury Journal #3

just the same, even though I was half dead. -- Band concert this evening. -- We have a fine band here at the school that plays every noon and evening.

Wednesday May 1, 1918 A big day cramming on the Lewis gun for the exes. tomorrow. I have the dope down a good deal better than I ever hoped to have it.

Thursday May 2, 1918 I got 295 out of a possible 300 points in the exes. today. Started in on the automatic pistol this afternoon. Have the pistol for the rest of the week. Herb and I beat it out of school early this afternoon

and went over to the aviation field at Monty. Saw a plane (Salmson) that landed on its nose. No one was badly hurt. Had to wait until after 6 P.M. before any of us could get any rides. We managed to catch a truck and rode most of the way to the field, so had a long wait before we got a chance to fly. Herb and I were both up for over a half an hour. It was wonderful. The piolet took me up a couple of thousand of meters, then started preforming. The first thing he did was rounversement. I didn't know what he was doing, and so thought he was trying to loop. The plane got

up on its back and the motor stoped. I didn't know the piolet cut the motor, and I thought that he was trying to loop. I said to myself, "My God man get that motor going." He let the plane fall off on a wing into a wing-slip and finally came out into a nose dive. We certainly were traveling some toward earth. I enjoyed it all, but just the same I was a little nervous. He then looped and did a tight spiral down. There were times when I couldn't tell weather(sic) I was on my back or not. At times the earth seemed to be standing on edge, and other times up side down. In the

rounversement I fell off of the seat and was suspended in the air by my belt, except I had a death grip on the side of the machine and was hanging on for dear life. The earth looked very pretty. It had a soft velvety appearance, and the forests looked so soft and nice, just as if it would be fun to jump off into them. Lt. Lambert, an old Sic. 8 man took me up in a Salmson. Most of the boys got rides in A.R.s. They cant stunt A.R. so I am glad that I got a ride in a Salmson. -- We walked home from the field a distance of five miles in fifty minutes. Pete Peterson

crabbed all the way over the pace we were setting. We had no supper, but got some chocolate and cakes at the Y.M. when we got back.

Friday, March 3, '18. Continued on the pistol in the morning. Went out on the range in the afternoon and shot the pistol. Our squad put up a purse of fourty francs for the first, second, and third men of 25, 10, and 5 francs. I got second money with a score of 13. First money was won by a score of 16. Band concert in the evening. Lee Emery fainted in formation this morning.

Saturday March 4 '18, Vickers Gun all day.