The Days of a Man ^1917 



The French official responded in an eloquent speech, 

 closing with an apostrophe " aux drapeaux." 



After the entry of the United States into the war 

 Clifford joined the aviation service, with the rank of 

 lieutenant. On September 26, 1918, his machine was 

 blown to pieces in the air over the village of Banthe- 

 ville, while engaged in patrolling with a squadron 

 the region about Romagne. In a letter to his mother 

 I said: 



The character of this young man was typical of the best in 

 America, wise, resourceful, and resolute, yet at the same time 

 gentle and idealistic. It was my fortune to know him well as a 

 student and to recognize his noble qualities. That war insis- 

 tently devours such men as Clifford is its final indictment at 

 the bar of civilization. 1 



Harold Aupperle served me as secretary and helper in my 

 most strenuous campaign for peace, that of 1916. 

 A youth of small stature, though of great alertness 

 and athletic activity, he was more than once rejected 

 by the army. As a member of the Red Cross with 

 the rank of captain, he spent two years in relief work 

 in Albania and Serbia. His death from typhus fever 

 occurred at Belgrade in the summer of 1918. From 

 Mr. D. W. Aupperle, his father, we received the 

 following account, which I here quote because of the 

 unusual details contained in it: 



Just before his death Harold met two little Serbian girls, 

 sisters of seven and nine years old, to whom he became very 

 much attached. This was particularly true in the case of the 

 older one. He wrote us about them and asked me to cable 

 whether or not he might bring one or both home with him. I 

 was on the point of assenting when we received the news of his 

 death. 



1 From "The Story of the First Flag," by Mrs. Clara E. Kimber. 



C746 U 



