The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-01-08
Rainbow Division Officers
Fought in Philippines

ease in Camp Merritt, so thar wn0i
| the regiment boarded the transpor
Pennsylvania November to sail To-
Manila 1t consisted Of but 1,O40 mel
out of 1882 who had originally
reached the Golden City. The re
mainder had been discharged from
the service as physically unfit many
! as the result of illness contracted II
the camp. -,
The trip to Manila gave the mil.
| tary world new record 70 talf
about. It was record for continuous
| life aboard transport for body o.
land troops. And the glorious feature
of this record was that 1t was mol
| ill-starred by illness or deaths.
81 Days on Transport.
AT no time in the history OF the
Fifty-first was its health better,
wrote Colonel Lopez in his record
"for which much credit is due rol
! efficient service rendered by the hos
pital corps, under the direction OF
Doctors Fairchild and Macrae."
The health of the regiment was SC
extraordinary good that the hospital
claimed but two patients when the
regiment landed at Cavite. ninety
four days after 1t had sailed from
! the Golden Gate These two were
The landing at Cavite was as re
markable an experience as any men
could wish. For more than three
months the troops had lived on the
Pennsylvania amidst all the hard.
ships and monotonous inactivity Incl
dent to troopship existence.
Get Into Action at Once.
Again let us turn to Colonel Lop
er's story:
1.-THE last troops were not yet
ashore when the storm of war de.
scended. At II o'clock Saturday
night, February 4, the call to arms
was sounded; word was sent from
Manila that the insurgents had at
tackled the Americans there. From
across the bay the thunder Of guns
and the roll Of volleys told that the
outbreak had come at last.
TT was expected that the natives
would attack Cavite from San Rogue,
but they did not and the men slept
on their arms for the night. For a
few days the regiment had only to
do guard and outpost duty. On Feb
ruary g. Admiral Dewey asked me
to send flag of truce to the 1nsurg-
ents at San Rogue and advise them
that If the town was not evacuated
by 9 a. M, February 8, he would
lombard the town. When o'clock
arrived San Rogue was In flames. the
natives had fled. ordered
the following troops to enter the
town and save the property: Third
battalion. F4fty-first Iowa. command
ed by Major Moore; California heavy
artillery with three gatling guns,
under Major Rice; Second battalion.
Fifty-first lowe, under Major Hume,
and a troop Of Nevada cavalry"
Philippine Engagements.
From this time on the Iowans were
In constant battle At times the bat
talions were miles apart, these battles
to be followed by joyous reunions.
The regiment participated In the tol.
lowing engagements:
San Rogue. February 8.
Guadalupe Church, March s.
Quinga, April 20.
East and West Pullman, April "a.
Calum7it, April %.
Santo Thomas, May 4.
San Fernando, May 3.
Around San Fernando, May 25, 26,
81. June 1s. %. 80 and July 4.
Calulet, Aug. 8.
September 6, 1899, the regiment re-
turned to Manila after making his.
tory as glorious for It's length as any
ever written. September 90 1t sailed
for the United States on board the
transport Senator"
They All Stood Pat.
During it's period of fighting in
the Philippines the term Of enlist.
ment of the regiment expired. But
that mattered not to the Iowa boys,
5000 miles from home. Without ex.
ception they "re-upped," as the sol.
diers put it, and saw It through"
For several weeks the regiment
stayed in service without being
legally an American force. This was
the period between the time of the
expiration of their term of service
and their subsequent remustefing
into service. At any time during
this period any Of the boys could
have left, and no one could criticise
them. But not one failed.
On the return to the United States
the transport stopped at Nagasaki,
Japan. and Yokohama, giving the
troops an opportunity to see much
Of the Orient After leaving Japa-
nese shores the ship ran into terrific
storms, storms such as only the
Pacific can deliver. For days-tfat
was before the wireless messages
the home folks thought they had
been 1ost-that the typhoon had ac-
complished what the Filipinos had
failed to do-wipe out the Iowa
force. But on October % the trans
port sailed into San Francisco and
two weeks later the boys were back
at their civilian employment.
To the Border.
Eighteen years elapsed. as the
story writer's put it, and another call
came from Washington. War was
virtually on between the United
States and Mexico. An American
force had been ordered to enter the
southern republic.
June 20. 1916, the guard was called
into seryice June 26 II waa rnus