That is a most interesting true story, Lucinda; Thank you.....ET..... ----- Original Message ----- From: Bonds <tabulam_bonds@dodo.com.au> To: <BLACKSHEEP-CHAT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 6:37 PM Subject: Re: [BSChat] NARA form help > Thanks Jeff and Pamela > > From your replies I figure that he was an officer. He was a Leutenant Commander WW1 flying planes for the Navy. > > He trained at Pensacola Navy Base, including study at MIT. He ws one of the first aviators to go to Europe and flew over the Channel protecting the troop carriers. He was shot down in the channel, he was saved by his watch that caught on part of the plane debri and kept him afloat, then picked up by a british ship. He was not injured. He flew Hispano Swuiza planes which had Lewis machine guns. They had to be able to re-assemble the Lewis blindfolded. (he was always a wiz at fixing machinery, guess this is where he learnt it) He said that if they stressed out and pushed too hard with thier feet, that thier feet would go right through the flimsy floor of the machine. > > He travelled and worked throughout US, Canada, Alaska and Mexico with many fantastic stories of his experiences. He worked on the Alaskan oil pipeline, raced horses in Canada, raced cars in US, flew planes for paying passengers with Eddie Rickenbacker, drilled for oil in Mexico, attended Chicago Uni under a sports scholarship playing football and got kicked out in his last year of law...all sound far fetched I know, but his exploits later in Oz confirm his adventurous nature. > > In 1925 he got into some type of trouble with a friend, a politician, and had to leave the US before the shit hit so he took the first ship out which happened to be going to Germany. Using his brothers passport he then came to Oz, had a dog with him and had to be rowed ashore by the captain at nite, because of quarantine laws. He thereafter used an assumed name and never returned. I think that he really missed his home and country. > > He eventually met my mum and bred us gang of rebels and adventurers, so we all consider ourselves in part to be American. Mum being the calm soul that she is, never fully quizzed him on what his real name was, he always said that he would take her home to Texas, she figured that she would find out then. Time ran out and this didn't happen. So with the advent of the net I am now trying to find out who he really was, I could have family over there somewhere becuase he had a brother. > > Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for now, sorry about that, but at least you've all had something to read and I've had someone to 'talk' to. Now that I think I have a name on him I will get busy doing more searching. Thanks for listening. Lucind. > > > ==== BLACKSHEEP-CHAT Mailing List ==== > Blacksheep-Chat-L@rootsweb.com is a wide spectrum Chat List, Topics allowed are almost anything.restrictions are: > Political discussion, religious prosylitizing, and aggressive behavior, any of these topics will result in restricted priveleges. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >