Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1917 — LOWELL AVIATOR IS MISSING [ARTICLE]

LOWELL AVIATOR IS MISSING

Never Returned From Air Battle in Defense of London. Aviator Alva O’Brien, a Lowell boy, has lost his life in a battle . hove the clouds with British flyi:g foreea. ’ . - . This is the report officially conveyed to Mrs. Maggie O’Brien, who resides with her daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Worley, south of Lowell, Reported missing August 16, Aviator O’Brien is now officially listed as having been killed in battle. He was stationed at London and participated in the defense of a number of German air raids. On the sixteenth day of August O’Brien was in a fleet of British aeroplanes that set forth to repell an attack. It is believed he was drowned. There still remains a slight possibility that he was made prisoner but this is a faint hope for the bereaved mother to cling to. He was the only aviator who failed to return from the battle. Aviator O’Brien helped to defend London 'in the fiercest raids ever made against the city. He was one of the best aviators in the defease of London and held the record for the height and sustained flight. He served as a British aviator three years, having joined through the Canadian recruiting offices.