| Summary: | During World War I Stout was a pilot, eventually serving as a lieutenant in the 27th Aero Squadron, First Pursuit Group. In this letter he expresses dismay that American pilots who had completed training in the United States are receiving better benefits and higher ranks than pilots who had been assigned to train overseas. He also describes and illustrates a humorous confrontation between an American pilot and a French civilian who washed the soldiers' laundry. The pilot habitually greeted French women who entered camp with the phrase "Bon jour, Madame, How's your old red underwear." The laundress turned to the pilot and replied, "Young man, I came here to get laundry - not insults so dry up!" Stout notes that the pilot "dried up all right, and is being asked about his own red underwear by every other man in the barracks."
|
|---|
