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Evening Star, Issue 23372, 15 September 1939, Page 14

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MORE; ABOUT NEW ZEALAND PILOT : IN GERMAN HOSPITAL

A Ha wera Association message reads: According to a shortwave message from a German broadcasting station at 12.10 to-day, Flight Officer L. H. Edwards, of Patea, who was posted missing following the raid on Wilhelmshaven and Kiel during the first day of war, is at present an inmate of a German Hospital, suffering from burns on the face and minor injuries. Two of his companions in the bomber are also in the same hospital. The broadcast was picked tip by several people. All the rescued men were stated to have spoken a few words in English during an interview with the German announcer in the hospital. Edwards’s message described how lie was shot down and with his two companions rescued by

the crew of a German plane. “ It is hard to remember exactly what happened,” said Edwards. “ It was all so sudden. We were shot down and thrown into the water, and my face "'as badly burned.” The other members of the crew of the bomber, a flight sergeant from Yorkshire and a man from County Tipperary, Ireland, were also injured, one receiving a broken jaw and the other an injury to his foot. Upon reaching the water the three men began to swim and a German plane descended and rescued all of thorn. They were at once admitted to the hospital from where the broadcast was, made.