The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-15
BIRMINGHAM MAN
 AWARDED HONORS
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signal corps. (cavalry). fighting against Uncle Sam's Fuzzy-Wuzzies. the Aioros. He got it flor gallantry in action against hostile MorOs during the attack on Datu Ais Go a on Ma lala river. Mindanao, October 22. 1905"
 The highest military distinction any American soldier or sailor. whether officer or enlisted man. can hope to win is the congressional medal of honor, awarded only for conspicuous gallan- try and intrepidity. even at the risk of life and above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy" Out of tine more than 1.2JO,OO0 American fighting men who came into action against the enemy in the World war, only 74 were selected as entitled by their outstanding herOism for this great est of all hOnOrs, of which the winning of the Victoria cross is generally re- garded as the only peer. And twenty of these 14 awards were posthumous. The heroes had paid for glory with their lives.
 Colonel Johnston ven his medal of honor in a fight at the mountain call ed DajO, in the island of JOlo. March [, 1906. The citation tells nothing of the actual story. It reads:
 Lieut.. Johnston, who was then first lieutenant, signal corps, volun- tarily took part in and was danger ously wounded during an assault on the enemy's works
 Some assault that was-some works and some enemy-every one will testify who knows by experience what a fight-crazed Moro is when penned in the last ditch and who ever climbed Bud Dajo.
 The mountain. an extinct volcano, is precipitous lava cone which stands a few miles from the coIorful little fortified city of JolO. cap it.l of the Sultan who represents the last trace of the once great MOham- madam sea empire of Malaysia, Heavy tropical forest clothes every feet of it, including the well-defined crater at the summit. The noun tain is 2,100 feet high and the upper 500 feet rise at a dizzy slope of 60 degrees to the crater lip. One needs pre- hensile toes to scale it.
 In the spring of 1906 there was seri- ous trouble in JOlO. A formidable band of Moro outlaws and religious fanatics was ravaging the island. When orders came to disperse the band and seize it's leaders, they replied by climbing to the crater of Bud DajO. They took their woman and children with them-which action. in Moreland, was an unspOken challenge to a pitched battle to the death, with no quarter asked, or granted Nine hundred strong, they fortified themselves in their eyrie. They were well equipped with rifles and native cannon, or lantakes, to say nothing of the murderOus short swords, or barOngs. which are the favorite Moro weapon at close quar- teFs.
 Had Edge On Opponents
 They were all juramentados- to a pitch of religious frenzy which made feath in combat with an infidel enemy like the American, a desirable boon, since it meant immediate trans lation to a paradise OverflOwing with hOuris Thus they had the edge on their opponents in morale, just as they had it in position.
 To smoke the deadly swarm out of its almost inaccessible nest the Amer ican commander, Col. Joseph W. Dun can, had a force of about 400 infantry and field artillery, augmented by a small body of Philippine constabulary and a naval detachment They were divided into six attacking columns, command of one of which fell to the signal corps lieutenant who had vOlun- teered for the assault. These columns started to climb Bud DajO from all sides at once. They made the first 1900 feet without serious trouble. but for long while it was dubious whether, in the face of the opposition put up by the maddened MOros. they could ever conquer the precipitOus upper slope of 500 feet which led to the crater rim
 Lieut.. Gordon Johnston was the first man up. He scaled the slope and made good a footing on the lip of the bowl of death. The force of artillery fire blew him off. A leaden slug tore through his shoulder. inflicting a hide ous wound from which for a time he was not expected to recover But he clung to the ground he had won. Sail ors with blocks and tackle hauled field guns up the cliffs and, after three days of desperate fighting, Bud DajO was captured. The Moro women showed their temper as, clad in mems clothing, they flung their babes down the pre- cipices and barong in hand. closed with the white soldiers in duels a Ioutrance, Persons sitting in padded armchairs in New York and Washington afterward made great tO-dO because some of these wOArn found on Bud Dajo the