PRIESTS IN AIR SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 137, 6 December 1918, Page 8

PRIESTS IN AIR SERVICE

Roman Catholic priests, who, like all Frenchmen of military ago, had to join the army, have distinguished themselves in the aviation service. Father Mirabail became an observer with the " Hawk" Escadrillc and was always tho first to volunteer for any perilous mission. The day of ihe * groat jaid on Karlsruhe, after which tho enemy admitted 257 victims and £100,000 damages, the machine which' carried Father Mirabail and his pilot, Sergeant Seitz, did not return. The Legion of Honour was awarded to the plucky observation officer, who had already earned two citations, and the statement accompanying tho award read. " Forced to, land by motor trouble, he succeeded in burning his machine and the papers on board." Seitz subsequently escaped to Franco, and Cardinal Hartnuum, Bishop of Cologne, lias excommunicated" Father Marabail. Father Bourjade, Second Lieutenant of Aviation, it described as a specialist in destroying observation billoonß. Ho has won the Legion of Honour. In attacking an enemy balloon on 29th July he received a bullet in tho shoulder, but in a few months was ready for duty again.