WAR

A dispatch from the Wolff Telegraph Bureau, Germany's major news agency,
was published in the Swiss newspapers on October 17: "A Wolff-note announces
that the aviator officer Garros was mortally brought down in the German lines
October 5. Before the war, Garros was one of the best-known French aviators.
He was taken prisoner April 18, 1915, and escaped in February 1918. Upon his
return he was first occupied in the construction of aeroplanes and later returned
to the Front."
Some days later, French troops entering Vouziers found his grave in the
on
southwest corner of the civil
cemetery there.
on November 2, 1918, Leutnant Hermann Becker was cited for the Pour le
Merite. On November 10, the Kaiser abdicated and fled to Holland. Becker never
received the award, but, in his own words, Man hatte auch ohne diese seine vaterlandische
Pflicht erfiillt, "Even without these (awards) one has performed his
duty to the Fatherland."
AT the beginning of 1918, Capitaine Jacques Leps was appointed to the command
of Spa 81. He held this position to the end of the war, leading the squadron
to 30 confirmed victories and 20 unconfirmed, for the loss
of only one man, a
pilot killed during a strafing attack on a column of infantry. Leps' own score
was 12.
The distinctive insignia of Spa 81 was a running hare pursued by a greyhound.
It was designed by an American, Brigadier Bayne, who served under
Leps and was accidentally killed one day while stunting over the field.
On November 11, 1918, Leps was sitting in the cockpit of his Spad, his
prop turning over, the squadron lined up beside him, engines running. He had
completed his last checks, was ready to go. The squadron's mission was to fly
escort for a bombing raid on Metz; it
was to be a big show.
Leps raised his hand to give the signal. Running toward him was a clerk
from his administration office, waving his arms and making great gestures. Leps
watched the man run up. Confirmation. The Armistice. C'est finie la guerre.
For one thousand five hundred days, Leps had known nothing but the war.
From the first day to the last day there had been nothing in his daily life but
the life he was holding on to at the moment. There had been no future, no "after
the war," only now. The war had taken him so young, so profoundly, he realized
with a shock that he could no longer imagine a life of peace.
He switched off the engine; it sputtered and stopped. One by one the rest
of the squadron switched off. The hot engines ticked and pinged as they began
to cool. Leps unfastened his seat belt and climbed out of the cockpit.
That night the early-rising sickle moon entered its first quarter.