Holck's funeral

"Dear Mum! Thank you very much for your birthday wishes. I had a very nice birthday here. In the morning, I had three very thrilling dogfights, and in the evening, I sat with Zeumer, my first pilot, until one o'clock in the morning, drinking May punch under a blossoming apple tree. I feel very comfortable in my new job as a fighter pilot; I don't think any other position in the war could appeal to me more than this one. I fly a Fokker, which is the aircraft with which Boelcke and Immelmann have had their huge successes. I am very sorry about Holck's death. I had visited him three days before he fell, and we had such a good time together. He told me about his capture in Montenegro. It is impossible to imagine that this man, who was bursting with health and strength, is now no more. I was an eyewitness to his last air battle. First he shot down a Frenchman in a squadron, then apparently had a jam and wanted to fly back over our line. Then a whole swarm of Frenchmen latched onto him. With a shot to the head, he plummeted from three thousand metres. – A beautiful death. – Holck with an arm or a leg would be unthinkable. Today I am flying to his funeral."