es circling
above, General Anthoine stepped out in front of the row of flags. His
powerful frame seemed to suggest the cuirass of the knights of old, as,
silhouetted against the cloudy sky, he towered above the two diminutive
aviators near whom he was standing. The band stopped playing, and the
general spoke, his voice rising and falling in the wind, and swelling to
a higher pitch when the elements were too rebellious. He was speaking
almost on the spot where Guynemer had departed from the soil of his own
country on his final flight.

"I have not summoned you," he said, "to pay Guynemer the last homage he
has a right to from the First Army, over a coffin or a grave. No trace
could be found in Poelcapelle of his mortal remains, as if the heavens,
jealous of their hero, had not consented to return to earth what seems
to belong to it by right, and as if Guynemer had disappeared in empyrean
glory through a miraculous assumption. Therefore we shall omit, on this
spot from which he soared into Infinity, the sorrowful rites generally
concluding the lives of mortals, and shall merely proclaim the
immortality of the Knight of the Air, without fear or reproach.

"Men come and go, but France remains. All who fall for her bequeath to
her their own glory, and her splendor is made up of their worth. Happy
is he who enriches the commonwealth by the complete gift of himself.
Happy then the child of France whose superhuman destiny we are
celebrating! Glory be to him in the heavens where he reigned supreme,
and glory be to him on the earth, in our soldiers' hearts and in these
flags, sacred emblems of honor and of the worship of France!

"Ye flags of the second aeronautical unit and of the First Army, you
keep in the mystery of your folds the memory of virtue, devotion, and
sacrifice of every kind, to hand down to future generations the
treasures of our national traditions!

"Flags, the souls of our heroes live in you, and when your fluttering
silk is heard, it is indeed their voice bidding us go from the same
dangers to the same triumphs!

"Flags, keep the soul of Guynemer forever. Let it raise up and multiply
heroes in his likeness! Let it exalt to resolution the hearts of
neophytes eager to avenge the martyr by imitating his lofty example, and
let it give them power to revive the prowess of this legendary hero!

"For the only homage he expects from his companions is the continuation
of his work.

"In the brief moment during wh