Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-11-24
SOLDIER LIFE IN
THE PHILIPPINES
Interesting Letters from Lieut..
Ted Lowry, a Lancaster Boy
He Is Now Stationed on the Island of
Sulu, Most Southerly Point Where
American Flag Floats.

American Flag Floats.
Lieutenant Ted Lowry, who is
now stationed on the Island of Sulu,
p l., has written home to his par
ents, in this city, several interesting
letters, from which The Herald is
privileged TO make the following ex-
tracts.
Zamboanga, Mindanao. P. l., Aug.
Is, O9.-We arrived here today, of
MS, after weeks travel, hiking by
land and by water. and are to be
stationed in all probability, some
where on the island of Mindanao.
We are here in Zamboangs, the town
dad and L searched for 20 diligently
when was preparing for Annapolis,
and found, By Mr.. Buchner's aid, to
be on the southwestern end OF
Mindanao can't imagine a more
beautiful place than this, but it is
district headquarters and of course
we will not stay here.
Mindanao itself is as different in
its people, its government and it's
religion from the rest of the Philip
pines as you could magazine, and is the
only island in the group really fit for
a white man to live on. Although
there are at times more disturbances
than are really pleasant, at any rate
the natives are reliably hostile and
not hypocritical. The people here
are Moros and their religion Moham
mechanism. The women in Moham-
medan dress certainly look very odd.
I have row made three sea voyages
and not yet have l had TO resort to
the rail to express my feelings. Last
night our little tub tossed and rolled
for hours In a fierce typhoou, the
worst, her 1st officer said, since he has
been in command, but your Uncle
Dudley" was lucky enough to escape
being sea sick. have been rather
slow about writing, but it has been
impossible to send mail.
.
Bongao, Sulu, August "a, '09.-As
I advised you by post card. we were
assigned to duty on BoDgao, and here
we are. Bongao is station on an
island probably mile square, the
most suutherly and westerly point
where the American flag floats.
Our station is an old Spanish fort,
and while it may sound lonesome to
you [ don t find it so in the least.
Stader, my superior officer, is
splendid fellow and has a good hold
on the Moros.
Within a stones throw of our fort,
in 3 directions lies the ocean-not
the ocean of the Temperate Zone. but
that of the Tropics, clear as crystal,
with sponges, corals and plants
growing az the bottom in plain view
and myriads of fish-from 6 inches
to A feet and that is not a fish story
can be seen-great swarms of them,
and curious slim sword fish which
lies close to the surface, and queer
little fellows striped and spotted most
wonderfully. Our company Is good,
the men are Moros and are funny
little devils-weaT fezes-(as we do
too) and altogether they are very
interesting. We have a boat here
once a month, so don't think ! am
negligent nor lazy nor i'll nor dead
if you do not hear often. | know how
hard this is for you but the best I can
do is to promise you that every boat
that leaves Bongao will take mail for
you. If you Will look on your map
you will find southwest of Mindanao,
the Sulu Sea and Sulu Archipelago
and nearest Borneo (for we are with
In sight of it) is the island of Bongao
And now l must close, and remember
that my only worry is for your health
and happiness, and that if it seems
20 you am long way out of the
world that am having a wonderfully
interesting experience, living under
tropical skies, sailing the Sulu Sea,
commanding a company of men who
ten years ago kept ships from sailing
through here by their piracies.
Good bye ard a world OF love to
you all.
Bongao, SuIu, Sept. :. O9, Yes
terday a. m. we left Bongao for the
island of Semerara for the purpose of
visiting the towns on that island and
letting the people know that we had
guns and were ready to bring them
over if necessary.
We visited several towns in the
day time and at night tied our boat
to the back end Of a native house