officer's mother, "could be more impressive than to see a French
general, an admiral, British staff-officers, and many other officers of
the two nations paying homage."

The death of Ensign Stephen Potter, who was killed in a battle with
seven German airplanes in the North Sea on April 25, 1918, followed a
glorious fight which will live in our naval annals. Potter was the first
of our naval pilots to bring down a German airplane, and indeed may have
been the first American, fighting under the United States flag, to do
this. His triumph was attained on March 19, 1918. Between that time and
his death he had engaged in several fights against German airmen,
causing them to flee.

And in this country our course of training has been marked by many
notable examples of heroism and devotion, none more so than the act of
Ensign Walker Weed, who, after his plane had fallen in flames at Cape
May, N.J., and he had got loose from his seat and was safe, returned to
the burning machine and worked amid the flames until he had rescued a
cadet who was pinned in the wreckage. It cost Weed his life, and the man
he rescued died after lingering some days; but the act is none the less
glorious because the gallant young officer gave his life in vain.

Related to the aviation service, to the extent at least that they
observe from an aerial post, are the balloon men of the navy, officers
who go aloft with great gas-bags, which, when not in use, are carried on
the decks of the larger war-ships engaged in work. From the baskets of
these sausage-shaped balloons the observers, armed with telescopes and
binoculars, the ocean and the ships of the convoy lying like a map
below, sweep the surface of the water for lurking submarines and enemy
raiders. The balloons are attached to the war-ships, and are towed along