New Britain herald., 1926-07-28
RECALLS CAMPAIGN
 IN PACIFIC ISLES
Johnson Tells of Drive to Cap
 lure AsuinaldO

The marble interior of a bank Is not the best place to create an at- mosphere when one is telling a story, the formality of the place is lapt to cast damper over the tale, Ibut yesterday Theodore c. Johnson lat the New Britain National Bank told the story so wildly as to make the marble walls melt into bamboo thickets and the chatter of type writers dissolve into the swish of ,,oolos and the bark of Krag-Jorgen- sen rifles. He told us about his serv- ice in the Philippines, tke bardships that the American troops encounter led, and the hum-drum, everyday things disappeared and in their stead came the scenes of his story and the characters that moved in them.
 "Aguinaldo, Emilio Aguinaldo, caused the whole affair."" said Mr. Johnson. "He recruited 12,000 Fili- pinos. mostly from the northern sec ton O. the islands and when the Spaniards had been defeated by our forces, Aguinaldo was left to deal with - Aguinaldo with his 12,O0o hard fighting Filipinos equipped with German rifles and a few field pieces and an exact knowledge as to Ithe method of fighting in this land. Aguinaldo was a wealthy Filipino, educated In Spain with the degree of a lawyer. With the financial aid of a good many wealthy Filipinos he had recruited his men-that was no feat. they poured into his camp to join his ranks.
 Then, in temperature that stay
 ed around 116, we followed him through the jungle, the bamboo thickets necessita1ing growing on our hands and knees through the ltangle. No roads were cut through lthat country, the natural brush made 1t extremely difficult to trans port rations and field pieces, we were cut off from base time and again with, every once in while, sklr- mish with the enemy that we very Iseldom saw. Aguinaldo was a wise general, he knew that the country was his strongest ally and he looked for the heat and natural difficulties Ito defeat the American troops. One thing lie overlooked that was the bulldog tenacity that kept our men moving slowly after him, hacking their way through the thickets and camping under the stars, but con- Itinuously logging him.
 Then Came the Rain
 "The heat left and the rainy sea- son was upon us, November and De- cember were two months of contin- uous rainfall, hard driving, soaking rains that chilled and brought malaria. We needed every outside aid we could find to help us cut our way through to the waiting Aguin- aldo, and there we were thankful for friendly tribe. These Filipinos were from the northern part Of the Islands, who had been educated and had thrown their lot with the Amer ican forces. They were trustworthy and hard fighters but their equip
 ment was appallingly neglected and
 the rebels took great delight In
 descending on their divisions and
 massacring them wholesale. Finally they were properly equipped, cap Itained by American officers untlI they learned the rudiments of mod ern warfare and then had oHlcers
 from their own ranks who led them Into many a vicious skirmlsh.
 That was the whole thing
 bushwhacking. We would go on for
 days without a sign of the enemy
 and then suddenly the crack Of 8 Mauser or the thud of a bolo Woulc l. tell us that they were with us again
 There would be a few scattered shots
 exchanged and a few men "ouio
 drop-then silence and they were
 gone for another week or more IOftentimes we did not see them, pu' shot into the places we Knew they
 were and after the scrimmage We could generally find a few Of then
 still in the places we had shot at nhat was our warfare.
 Chief Food Mysterious Mixture
 "Feeding our men was the bigges
 problem. as rations could not be kep
 m with the advance of the troops
 sort of emergency ration was IS
 sued to us, a few bars of chocolate
 and a mysterious mixture tha | looked and tasted like sawdust bu
 which was rumored to be a ground
 mixture of meat, bread and pota