Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-09-21
LIKES UNCLE SANS NAVY SERVICE
One of Our Boys Sails Around the world
in War Vessel

EDITOR CENSOR:
As have not written to you since
left home and joined the u. S. Navy,
am going to drop you just a few
words. have been in the IT, S. Navy
since May Ia, 1909. | was sent from
Milwaukee to Newport, Rhode. Island.
and there had my first experience in
the navy and was taught something of
how the } in blue did out upon this
big wide After three months and
six days as transferred to the u. S.
ship, Des ..oines, at Boston, Massa-
chusetts, , that was my first ship of
Man o. w men. There we lay for
two weeks & While there | went to see
Paul Reeve : monument and also visit
ed Bunker gill monument. | climbed
to the top : the latter, and one can
see seven Ties, the old state house
and Faneui : TALL, and that is where hb-
erty was ~; and also Boston Com
mons, and ere the Boston massacre
occurred. n many other places famous
in history. On the Commons there are
great many monuments to heroes
who fell in the Boston Massacre, mon
uments of the soldiers and sailors in
blue, and also to the memory of the
colored Massachusetts regiment which
was fought so CALAMITY in the civil
war; also to many men famous in his
tory.
After few DAYS we sailed for New
York City and on the 18th day of Sep
TENDER, 1909, we arrived, and while the
ship lay there | met shipmate off the
U. S. ship, Dolphin, and he and went
around in New York. We crossed the
second largest bridge in the world, the
old Brooklyn bridge. was around Ma
olson Square, and also down to the Ma
olson roof garden. The latter place is
where Harry X. Thaw shot Stanford
! White. AS we lay in New York har-
Dor we saw the ship that Capt. Henry
Hudson sailed up the Hudson river in.
1t is called the Half-mooL, and was at
the jamestown Exposition. There were
ships in the harbor from every navy in
the world.
We sailed from New York City to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The first day
out of the harbor was stormy. It got
rough, and Of all the stunts and rolling
that it did, 45 degrees, and everybody
was seasick and wanted to die, but
! could not. Captain Shipley was the
commanding officer Of the U. S. ship,
Des Moines, and he was seasick. He
said il was the first time he was ever
sick at sea and he had Travelled the sea
for twenty-eight years. After we had
, five days in that storm we had fine
weather from there to the West Indies.
When we arrived at Cuba | was trans
ferred to the training u. S. ship, New
ard, and from there to the u. S. ship,
Paducah. She is a small gun boat,
carrying six four-inch guns and four
six-pounders. After had been on the
Paducah one month she set sail for her
home navy yard, Portmouth, New
Hampshire, and we lay here until the
} Goth of January, 1910; then set sail for
/ Central America. We went from Port
. mouth to New York and from New
York to Key West, Florida, and called
ship from there to New Orleans for the
a Mardigrau parade. Fro New Orleans
e we sailed to Blue Fields, Nicaragua,
I and there where Uncle Sam had as to
protect the American interests and the
American people. On May 20, | saw
the great battle between the rebels and
the government troops. The fight COM
, Ifnenced at ten o'clock at night and
lasted until twelve o'clock that night.
The Pickinnies Man o. War vessel is
called the Venus, and at five o'clock
the next morning we got word that the
government troops had captured the
Bluff, and the captain of the vessel told
Captain Gilmer on board the u. S. ship.
paducah, that ne was going to lombard
the city of Blue Fields, Nicaragua, and
on TIE 28th day of May, at twelve
, o'clock that night, the boys aboard the
u. S. ship, Paducah, cleared ship for
action and Captain Gilmer went over
and told the captain aboard that vessel
that he would sink her to the bottom
of the Caribbean sea if they did not
send their guns over to lombard that
city, because he had about $50 men ov-
err there on guard duty. When the
captain heard what Captain Gilmer of
the u. S. ship, Iaducah, was going to
do, he said they would not lombard.
While we were lying, U. s. ship, Du-
buque, as sister ship of U. s. snip, Pa
ducah, came TO relieve US. Then we
went to Bocas, Deltora, Central Amer
lea, to coal, and from there to Colon
Parma, Central America. That is a
beautiful little place, about the size of
Milwaukee. They gave US liberty there
and that was the first liberty we had
for three long months. Columbus mon
ument stands there today. | saw the
great Panama canal which they are dig
ging through from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean, and there ] saw the larg
est steam shovels work that there is in
the world
Well, friends at home, as | am writ
ing to you, think the navy is one of
the finest places any young man can be
and you can also get to see some of this
large world. | would advise any young
man to join the navy. When he has
finished one cruise in the navy, four
} years, he will say it is one of the finest
places in the world. | think there is no
place like it. | expect to do thirty
years in the service and am thankful
that joined it. You can learn good
deal about what is ahead of you. When
you come out you can be worth good
many thousand dollars If you save your
} money, and am going to be true to
my country and to the stars and stripes
) that gave us freedom. | must close
for this time. Hope that all of my old
friends are well. / am,
Yours truly.
G. S. LEWIS, u. s. S.