The youngest son of Alexander and Elizabeth May, "Wop" got his nickname in 1903 when a young cousin had difficulty pronouncing his given name. On 21 April 1918, May seemed destined to become the 81st victim of Manfred von Richthofen. The Red Baron pursued May's Sopwith Camel along the Somme Canal through an undefended section of no-man's-land. As they passed over the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, Roy Brown intervened with a burst of Vickers machine gun fire. Seeing Richthofen's triplane make a sharp downward turn to the right and confident that May was now out of danger, Brown flew to the aid of Lt. Francis Mellersh who was under attack by two Fokker triplanes. About a minute later the Red Baron's Fokker DR.I crashed to the ground as Mellersh, now safe and followed by Brown, flew by on his way home.