100 years ago in Spokane: Details sparse in death of local fighter pilot

A.R. “Dickie” DeLay, a Spokane aviator, was killed in action in Europe.

Details were sparse, but it presumed that he was killed while flying over German lines.

DeLay had been a clerk in the Spokane branch of the Bank of Montreal and was a well-known member of the Spokane Athletic Club.

A native of London, he had enlisted in the British-Canadian recruiting mission and became a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. When he went overseas he said he was “anxious to get into the Flying Corps to avenge the German air raids on his native city.”

From the library beat: Even librarians were needed in the war effort.

Spokane City Librarian George W. Fuller received a commission in the “war library service” and was scheduled to report to Camp Funston at Fort Riley, Kansas.

He was being asked to take charge of the cantonment’s library system, one of the army’s largest, with a main building, a hospital library, 21 branch collections, and 63 smaller stations.

“The growth of the war library service has kept up with the demands of the army,” said Fuller. “I am glad to be called to a part in it.”