Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-01-18
INTERESTING LETTER
FROM PHILIPPINES
Tells of Life Aboard a United
States War Ship.
Vandie Ludvik, Former Lancaster Boy
Makes Good Record at Target Prac-
tice With 3-Inch Gun.

The Herald two weeks ago. IS
pointer in gun crew Of the u. S. S.
Denver, in the PHILIPPINE Islands
and at present stationed in Manila
Bay, has written a letter to his
sister Rose. which we have secured
for publication, believing that Mr..
Ludvik's friends will find it of int
crest. It is as follows:
OLoNGAPO, p. l., DEC. IL. 1907.
DEAR SISTER
Hello Rose. well I am still here,
only in different place; left Manila
on the 9Th, got to Olongapo the
same day; it is only go miles north
of Manila We came here only for
small arm practice, (such as rifles
and plstols) the rifle range at
Manila is not very good so we went
over here. / will now tell you how
I came out on the target practice
with the big guns; well it was better
than expected, we were shooting
on 1,600-yard range and The ship
was speeding at about 10 miles an
hour; with all of that I made hits.
out of ten shots with 8 inch gun.
[ did next to the best on the
ship; the best was 10 hits out of 10
shots with the 8 inch gun. What
do you think of that.) The inch
guns fired shots apiece, making So
shots in all, and made ~ hits out of
L. Oh &c FOL
pretty good for most of us on this
ship never shot a big gun. The
captain and all the officers were
much pleased when the practice was
over; my division officer gave me
and the fellow that made the 10 hits,
each two bottles of beer for making
the best shots. When we got back
to Mauila from the target grounds
we all got 4S hours liberty two
days. I was ali through the city of
Manila.
Well am glad you got those.
necklaces all right; was afraid they
might get lost. Say Rose I did not
get them here, in the Philippines;
they come way from Alden, Arabia,
but did not send them till / got
here; they cost only 25 cents. When
we were in Alden I could have
gotten lots of thing cheap, but
didn't have any place to keep them
and to send them from there I
would have had to pay large duty
on them, that is the reason I kept
them till I got here. So Ma thinks
I look poor on that picture? Well
| am sure [ am not; | weigh Is lbs.
more than l ever did I weighed
135 lbs. when left and now | weigh
$50 lbs. SO dOn'G think of being
poorer; you tell mamma I said she
is mistaken. Say Rose you don't
want to use so much stamps on the
letters and post cards; use only one
2 cent stamp for letter and one l.
cent stamp for post card, just the
same as IN the states. These stamps
use from here are not 2 cent
stamps, but 2-centavo stamps, and
are worth only cent IN U. S.
money; that is the reason I put Oh
two. And you made big mistake
by sending me those those U. S.
stamps, they are no good to me
here; you can send mail to me with
u. S. stamps on, but I can not send
mail to you with e. S. stamps on,
the only stamps that will take mail
from here are Philippine stamps.
The Philippine money looks just
like U. S. money, but it is worth
only half the amount. The silver
dollars are the same size. but are
not called dollars here, but pesos,
one peso is worth 80 cents of our
money. Just as soon as l get a
chance I will send you some Philip
pine paper money SO you can see
how it looks.
So Len skipped the country. Well
he we'll be glad to come back, may
be, some day. l skipped it. myself,
but | knew where l was going, and
I don't think Ill ever regret it. /
have learned more IN these past 8
months than l did in the whole Is
years. 1t don't hurt anybody to
JOIN the navy. If anything will
make a man out of a fellow the
navy will. I got those two post
cards you sent; that one of the
street Is fine.
Well tell the friends that 1 sent
them my best regards, and love to
you and all the folks at home.
am as ever your sailor brother.
VANDT