Machine Gunner

And I’ve been recommended for my commission. I’ve applied for the air force. I was told, padre comes in one day, down in the trench one day and asked for George Hatch. “I’m George Hatch.” He takes me down, back to the third line trenches to the officer’s quarters, and I was taken down the dugout where the officer’s quarters are and he asked me to take a drink because I’d been recommended for my commission. I’m going overseas back to England to the Officers Indoctrination Centre and I’d be back again in the end of six weeks. So I thanked them and they wanted to celebrate the occasion and they wanted me to take a drink of Jamaican rum, as a toast. I said, “I can’t take it. I tried it and I couldn’t get my breath when I drank it.” I didn’t care for it, but they insisted I take it regardless. Well, I did and I remember it burned my stomach and it made me dizzy. You know something, I never remember leaving the trenches. How I ever got out of there, I know I didn’t walk on my own. They must have carried me out. And then to tell me I’m going over to the old country, to England, and I’m gonna be flown back. And I go to a field, an airfield, back of Saint-Omère, they call it in France. When I get there, the sergeant in charge says, “Alright, you report to the orderly room, you’re just the man we want. I see you’ve got machine gun symbols on your arm.” He said, “We need machine gunners badly.” “No,” I says, “I’m going to the Indoctrination Centre in England and return back to my battalion.” “No you’re not,” he says, “you’re going to be a machine gunner here.” The next morning I’m told to put on this flying suit, there going to give me an indoctrination ride. I’ve never been near an airplane in my life. I’ve seen them flying, over the trenches shooting down balloons, and I’ve seen dog-fights, but I’ve never been near one. Never got a chance. Nobody ever got a chance to go near the air field. You know, it was secret. And I’m taken up to this indoctrination ride and the officers flying this BE2c machine. He banks the machine steeply and this tips with it, like when you stand, and scares me to death and I’m just holding on for dear life. I was never so scared in my life. I made up my mind right there and then, “To hell with the air force, I’m not going there.” I was too scared. When we come down anyway, he said, “Boy, you’re white.” He said, “Are you scared? ” I says, “You know damn well I’m scared, I’m not going in no air force. I put an application in for it, but I’m not going.” “Well,” he says, “you’re in it now.” And I’m there for six weeks as a machine gunner in the front cockpit. And he’s flying machines, he doesn’t have a machine gun. Now he’s in the rear of me. I’m in the front. And when we’re over the German lines and we’re shooting at trucks and anything that moves back of the German lines, plus being pounced upon now and then by German machines and then we head back for our own lines. Well, I’ve had six weeks of this and I happened to run across an individual in the small village there that’s got a symbol on his arm, a green patch, which designates that he is from the 21st Battalion, of my brigade. So I was surprised. “Are you’re in the 21st Battalion? ” He says, “Yes.” “Where are you located? ” He says, “About 7 miles from here.” So I find out where it is and I get permission and I’d go to see them. We’d ride a truck. When I get there, he said, “Hatch, what are you doing with your stripes on. We thought you were over in England - Officer’s Training School.” And I tell him where I’m at, and colonel, the colonel in charge, Colonel Mosswell, he did some telephoning and when I get back to the airport, I’m told I should’ve been sent there five weeks ago, or six weeks ago. So I get over to London. When I get over there, they find out that I’ve already been in the air force as a machine gunner, and instead of sending me to the Officers Indoctrination School for my battalion, I’m transferred to Oxford Military School of Aeronautics for pilot training. That’s right, for pilot training. There, I’m sent, and I put in another five to six weeks Military School of Aeronautics, I graduated from that. I’ve already had my aerial gunnery, I’ve been shooting the damn things, and I have five planes to my credit at that time, that I shot down so I’m excluded from going to gunnery school. So instead of sending me to gunnery school, they keep me there for three of four days, instructing the boys on the Lewis machine gun because I’ve been taking them apart and cleaning it. Now they keep me, making me, teaching the boys that, instead of sending me to gunnery school, to teach the other boys, taking them down and cleaning them and looking after it. Well, along comes an individual by the name of Major Bloomfield. It’s now March, 1917. He comes up, he says, “Are you George Hatch? ” “Yes.” He said, “You’ve already been serving (inaudible) in the air force. “Yes, I’ve been in it, not very much of it - five to six weeks of it.” Well, he says, “How would you like to join my squadron. We’ve got a new squadron coming up, number 65 Squadron, all brand new Sopwith Camel SE5's, single-seaters and that’s what you got in for, single-seater.” “I’d love that.” He said, “I’d like you with us.” So I joined 65 Squadron. Well, 65 Squadron stayed there for about a month and no planes showed up. Didn’t have a damn plane but the boys were there. That’s where I met Albert Ball, the famous Albert Ball that shot down about 27 planes, Bert Ball. He got to be a good friend of mine. And I’m sent back to France to 57th Squadron. Whether I was loaned to them, I don’t know, but I’m not there very long and back at the same old game as a damn machine gunner until they find out they’d made another mistake so I’m sent back to 65. I stayed with them til I was shot down myself.