Charles D'Olive on Frank Luke

“I found the little farm, Murvaux Farm, over which Frank Luke flew from one balloon to another when he saw these troops in the street. When he burned the second balloon he came back across that farm shooting up these Heinies. One of the ground troops shot him. He landed four or five hundred yards down in a little slope.

“I found the farm and talked to the old French lady there who had seen the whole thing from her upstairs window. The farm houses are built like a U. The pigs, chickens, and the family all live in the round and the manure pile is in the middle. The house has a little sloped roof. She was upstairs and saw all this.

“When he landed the tail of his ship was pointed slightly toward the farm. He got out on the other side, sitting on the trailing edged of the wing, leaning up against the fuselage. He had been shot through the lung. When these German soldiers ran down there they went around the tail of the ship and he killed seven of them with his two forty-fives. He was an excellent forty-five hand gun shooter.

“Of course they killed him and the old lady buried him there. She showed me where she had buried him.
“He was quite a boy. I saw that devil one day get on a motorcycle without the sidecar and go down one of those straight roads like a bat out of hell. He turned loose of the handle bars and took two forty-fives and emptied them in those great elm trees that grow along these roads. As he’d go by on his motorcycle, Bam! Bam! Bam!, and the loads would be in each tree. That’s pretty good.

“If he had returned from his last flight he would have been court martialed for leaving his flight and going shooting a balloon. Instead they couldn’t quite figure out how they could court martial a guy after he was dead, so they gave him a Congressional Medal of Honor.

“If a man can be brave, he was the bravest man I ever saw. He’d burn a balloon and then turn around and chase the gunners away from the guns on the ground just for the hell of it. If the rest of us got a good crack at a balloon, it was in and then gone because the bullets were kind of thick. I never could burn one...”

--from AN INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES D’OLIVE (Cross & Cockade Journal, vol. 1, #1, Spring 1960; page 6)

Below: an aerial photo of Murvaux today, taken from approximately 1000' (330 meters), looking south-southwest.

[stephen]

Some notes of interest:

1) That photo is looking more west than south. The main east/west road running through Murvaux is the D102; Verdun is 15 miles or so south. Take the D102 to Dun sur Meuse, turn left and drive fifteen minutes and you're there.

2) There were many other witnesses to Luke's death in Murvaux, as proven by D'Olive's testimony, combined with the fact that none of the signers of the 1919 affidavit were female.

3) When I interviewed D'Olive around 1988, I had no idea that he had spoken with a witness to Luke's death. That slamming sound you hear is me, beating my head against a wall. The old woman's testimony about Luke's burial site could have sewed up over ten years of work for me. (SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!) So close, yet so far.

[Alan]

Very interesting, Captain Lewis. You uncovered a different date of demise for young Luke in another thread, IIRC, and am wondering if this old woman's testimony to D'Olive corroborates that?

Also to the veracity of FLJ sitting up against his fuselage....it's a different accounting than the ones considered dogma, yes?

It presents a different thought, to me, on his last moments.

As always, thanks for sharing....

And Stephen, you are probably aware by now that history has a way of making us a little crazy....everything happens for a reason, though, including the dents in the sheetrock you just created with your noggin!

[stephen]

The date foul-ups (allegations of Sept 30 and Oct 1) can be traced to faulty German records. Not only did they goof up the dates, they listed him as English. So much for German efficiency.

[Tom_Cervo]

There's a wonderful interview of Charles D'Olive in the August 1964 issue of "Esquire", written by Vance Bourjaily. He'd just learned that his fifth kill was credited, making him the oldest pilot to make "ace". Nothing about Luke, but well worth looking up.

[Billy_Bishop]

Originally Posted by stephen

The date foul-ups (allegations of Sept 30 and Oct 1) can be traced to faulty German records. Not only did they goof up the dates, they listed him as English. So much for German efficiency.

SEE!! Haven't I said before, the Germans are not as efficient at record keeping as some would have us believe!!!

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself...well...maybe I could have, but I decided not to. )

Gentlemen,
It's good to hear from all of you, and thank you for your comments. I hope that you will visit the Gallery and view the penultimate work of Russell Smith, "The Eagle from Arizona"...

Actually, Tom, the Esquire article does mention Luke; unfortunately, D'Olive calls Luke a "nut", for the same thing that he seemingly admires in the C&C interview, ie for attacking the ground gunners as well as the balloon. Actually, Luke did attack the ground gunners, but only on one or two occaissions...

Alan, I'm afraid that the interview doesn't give a date, on the part of D'Olive, for Luke's demise; my point was that here was yet another version of Luke's death, and from a fellow fighter pilot. I made particular note that D'Olive claims to have actually visited the town of Murvaux...

I'll be departing NYC this Friday evening for Paris; I intend to visit Murvaux. My plan is to visit Luke's grave on the morning of the 29th of September, and probably place flowers there. Then I will visit Murvaux, and carefully note the afternoon and late afternoon lighting, and time the sunset, twilight, and nightfall. Stephen, if you have any request for me, I will try to accomodate you.

And if everyone else would provide me with their addresses, I'll do my best to send each of you a postal card...

I will be bringing my mini-dv camera along, as well as plenty of thermometers; not only will I find out more about Luke's last moments, but conclusively prove that Murvaux is the true source of the Nile...

VBR,
Captain Lewis

Bon Voyage, Cap'n!

(Waving handerchief and throwing kisses) And plenty of good revs! I hope you find what you're looking for.

Cheers,
Scarlett

[Alan]

Yes, yes, have a Great Time and Good Luck in your research.

We eagerly await your Good Fortune....and all that.

[John_P]

Approximately where in that photo did Luke crashland? Did the airplane make it down in one piece or was it 'washed out'?

Why haven't they made a movie about this guy?? What a genuine character!