SUPPRESSED IDENTITY OF HERO
—
Boy Who Shot Down Immelmann Was Not Named.
Mr. Forster, replying to a number of questions in the house of commons yesterday as to the suppression of the name of the airman who shot down
Captain Immelmann, the Fokker pilot, said it had not been customary to mention the names of officers and soldiers who performed acts of gallantry. The matter was, however, being further considered, in consultation with the military authorities in France. The name of the officer in question was not communicated to the press bureau for publication, and consequently there was no question of the bureau having suppressed the name.
Sir Arthur Markham asked if the name of Lieutenant McCubbin, aged eighteen and a half, was not sent to the bureau and suppressed.
(The name was sent by the Daily Mail and suppressed.)
Mr. Forster: I was not aware of that.
Sir Edward Carson asked what was the objection to giving names.
Mr. Forster said that in the early stages of the war it was the express desire of the royal flying corps that no mention of individual names should be made.
Mr. Pringle: Why should an exception be made in the case of the flying officers?
Mr. Forster said he did not think the royal flying corps officers wanted it, and he also thought it should be in the discretion of the commander-in-chief.
Lincoln Daily News (Lincoln, Nebraska) - Wednesday, September 6, 1916
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