Visit to headquarters

"It was on 1 May 1917 when I said goodbye to my squadron in the morning and flew to Gr. H.-Qu. I sat in the back as Franz. Our first stop was Cologne. This is the first holiday I am taking armed with the Pour le Mérite, and the first time I have returned home after making a name for myself. That is why it was still very strange to me that people were looking at me like that. We got off in Cologne; our plane was treated like a miracle. But I soon got used to it and realised that it was meant for me. After an hour's break, we flew on to Kreuznach. There I was warmly welcomed by all the pilots who were sitting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, the ‘Kogen’. I knew most of them already from the B.A.D. and the B.A.N. I also got to know the others better. I was greeted with flowers and a thunderous cheer. I immediately had the feeling that up here in the big tin workshop, people really care about each individual and their successes, and that you're not just pushed around like a number in a calculating machine."