Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

Page 11 text:

On May 18, 1918, John was returning from a raid when the engine of the machine he was dying stopped when it was directly over Dun- querque, at a height of about two hundred feet. It was impossible to make the water of the outer harbor and as he was losing altitude very ra])idly he attempted to make a “stall landing” on the roof of a house, hut his machine being completely out of control, was blown from its course, one wing striking a chimney, which threw the machine into the street, so that John was instantly killed. It was a strange coincidence that his parents received a letter from him on the very day he died, Saturday, May 18, 1918. John Ganster’s memory will always live in the memory of all who knew him; it will be forever cherished by the boys of Loyola, present and to come. He did not live to see the realization of the victory for which he fought. But it was the supreme sacrifice that he and his brother-heroes oft ' ered on the altar of liberty that made the victory possible. They died that we might live. It is this thought that may help to lessen in some degree the grief of his family in their bereavement. The college of which he was a student and the congregation whose faithful allar-boy he was, offer them the tribute of deep and heartfelt sympathy. John Ganstcr lived not in vain. Mai] he rest in peaee. We publish below extracts from letters written by John to his mother, father and brother. They cover in an interesting way the period he spent over there, up to the time he went to Dunquerque where he was tirst wounded and later met his untimely death. (To His Brother) ; Tours, France, July 2. “This is the finest school imaginable. There are about two hundred machines here of the best type, and the stunts these Frenchmen pull otf would make your hair curl. To see the “loop the loop” is a common occurrence. We don’t even look at them anymore. Here is our daily routine. Turn out at 4 A. M. and have cotfee and cheese; start flying at 4.30 and tly until 9.30; instruction in the theory of tlight and motors from 9.30 until 10.30; cat at 10.30; sleej) until 4 in the afternoon; eat again at 4,30; fly from 5 until dark and again sleep. The French- men say that to tly one must have as much rest as possible, therefore I am becoming a star impil. I am looking forward to ' my graduation which will be in about two months from now. All of the instructors here are jiilots that have served at the front. Let me tell you the calibre of the man my instructor is. He was tight- ing a German 1,000 feet in the air and his observer was killed. He then shot at the Dutchman with his pistol until all his ammunition was gone. He was shot eight times in the right arm, but with his left he 9

Page 10 text:

Frencii Wings, as a ])iirsuit Pilot for laiul and sea ])lanes. An exact i ' ei)ro(luetion of this insignia is shown under his i)ietiire. Very few of them were awarded. It is said that John was one of eleven wlio qualitied. After leaving the school at St. Raphael, John was a])pointed llight instructor at Issodon, In January, 1918, together with nine of his comrades, he attended the British Schools at Ayr and Turnhery, Scotland. Here they received advance training in “Aero (iunnery and Stunt Flying.” He (lualified in both branches, and was awarded the British Wings of the Royal Flying Corps. In the sjH’ing fighting of 1918, John served for several weeks with the British, for whom he had a profound admiration. He was otlcrcd a commission as Captain in the Boyal Flying Stiuadron, but early in Ajiril, he went to DuiK[uerquc (Dunkirk), France, dying with the Amer- ican navy. Duncjiierquc was the farthermost city to the north that was still in the Allied hands, it being some fifteen miles from the German line. From this point the Navy conducted its aid raids on German submarines, and submarine bases, and also sent out its ])lanes to destroy and combat the submarines after they had gotten to sea. The Germans retaliated by bombing the city at all times, from the land, from the sea, and from the sky. John was acting as a pursuit pilot, that is, he was flying a small single-seated fighting machine, that protected the bombing plane from the German aircraft. Unfortunately we have no details as to the work done by John during this last most brilliant jieriod of his brief career. Censorship was very strict and it is only now when those wJio w ere associated with him are returning home that some few ' facts about him are being learned. Those who knew ' the candid, straight-forward character of the man. his daring bravery, his im])etuous enthusiasm, will easily understand that his deeds of heroism w ere not few ' . It was during this time that he was w ' ounded in the neck by shrapnel while flying over the lines. He was in Paris convalescing, when he w ' as visited by an old Loyola friend. Lieutenant John J. Quinn, also of the aviation, who was then on his w ay to Nice. Lt. Quinn was ])robably the last Loyola boy whom John met, as the latter died about a month later. How ' dangerous was the post to which John was assigned may be judged from this, that when the Navy took over I)un(iuer([ue in A])ril, 1918, thirty eight pilots w ' erc sent to the station, w ' here they saw ' service everw ' day, either in raids or observation trips; w ' ithin tw’o months, thirty- one of the thirty-eight lost their lives. 8

Page 12 text:

maneuvered his maehine so that his propeller smashed into the tail ol ' the German, wreeking it and sending il to mother earth. With a wreeked i)ropeller and a dead ohserver he glided his maehine hack into the Freneh lines. Is he a man? (To Ills Father) : Tours, Franee, July IS. 1 am getting along great. I now tly the sehool maehine by inysell ' . My next tlight will he the start of my journeys. For to graduate IToin this sehool, we must take three journeys. The tirst is to the Fnglish sehool at Vendome in the morning, a distanee of about 70 miles and tly baek the same day. The next two tlights are over a triangular eourse of about 000 and -100 miles. Hying at an altitude of 2,000 metres. July 14th is the Frenchman’s July 4lh, and athletic games were held. We Americans won every event, coming first, second and third in each, except in the discus and the reason we lost that was because Wiherg had a sore arm and could not throw. I won the heavy weight boxing and middleweight. IJiey gave me a gold medal as big as a dinner ])late, with a lot of engraving on it that 1 haven’t as yet been able to translate. (To His Mother) ; France, July 28.. . Yesterday I t[ualitied as a ])ilot so I shall leave this school in a few days and learn water machines at another school. In France aviators are treated like kings. I ' his Hying game is great sport. The Frenchmen seem highly pleased with us Americans. They say we learn very fast. The only real hard part is making landings. The first thirty or forty times I made landings in the landing-class, I was a bucking bronco and broke more wires than you could shake a stick at. khey take you to a narrow valley about seven or eight miles from the school. The instructor sits in the front seat and you handle the machine. He never touches the controls. You make seven landings one way and eight the other. Just as soon as you attain a height of 800 feet you cut off the motor and come down. When you jiass from the landing-class you make your first hoj) alone. You are ])ut in a machine with a 00 H. F. rotary engine and a mechanic regulates the motor to full speed, while several others hold the machine. 4ien the engine is going well they let go and you tly from one end of the field to the other. If you get away with it, they put you in the same machine and let you make a circle of the field. You then do the same with a 80 H. P. and a 00 H. P. machine. After that you go to a spiral field and Hy to a height of 500 metres, cut off the motor and si)iral 10