Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-27
'EMAR|NE TELLS
|. OF G|BARA BATTLE.
Could Have Held Tunnel for
Years, But Bullets Gave
Out, American Says.
BIZ WILLIAM n. roRT.


~ Gable to The star.
HAVANA Cuba, August 2T-Six
Americans. all participants In the bat
tie at Gibara last week and members
OF the small detachment Of rebels left
behind to hold the tunnel while the
rest Of the landing party made their
escape. have arrived In Havana, and
from one Of them. a former sergeant in
the United States Marine Corps, the
writer has obtained the first authentic
eyewitness story Of one Of the most
remarkable encounters In military his
tory.
The story Of this former Marine veri-
fies in all important particulars the
details of this battle which were de.
scribed on the day following the fight.
He also confirms the prediction then
made that the rebels, following the
Gibara encounter, decided to postpone
their plans for further decisive moves
looking toward the overthrow OF the
present government for a month or six
weeks, at which time three large fill
buster expeditions ere to leave the
United States for Cuba.
Meanwhile, according to his story,
the small bands of rebels ALREADY ur-
ganized are to do what they can to
worry the federal troops in the eastern
end Of the island
Sign Up at e5oe Each,
Here is the story of this soldier. who
gave his name as George Moore, which
right:
I'VE all signed up IN Texas he said.
No, can't tell you just where That
would be goofy wouldn't IT? Anyhow,
we signed up. two shiploads Of US,
where / was, at 500 bucks apiece. They
gave US 200 before we started and the
other 800 as we got on the boat.
There was about $50 on eur ship
and lot more on the other, seven or
eight times that many But, you see,
the ship was on had most Of the
supplies and ammunition.
Well. where we showed of from ex-
actly honestly couldn't say. don't
know. They put US in little boats and
we Just cruised around the coast and
finally contacted the ship. Anyhow, IL
was somewhere on Texas.
We got To this little town Of the
shore ways and pulled in and tied
TO the dock. Our ship-that Is. the
other ore--went on down the coast q
II =
Know because We we're too busy.
Kept Busy Unloading.
''we got in early in the morning and
we worked like the devil all day iin-
loading the ammunition and supplies.
rifies and machine guns, and the like.
NOBODY bothered us except q few sole
diers. and we got rid of them.
We were told we were supposed 70
get to town named Holgain with the
stun, where 5000 man were waiting 10
3reb the guns. But we never got there.
The fight. say. that was Joke.
Honseti Most of them went on try.
ing to set the guns and other things
70 Holguin, see, and some Of us. don't
know, may be 20 or 80. stayed behind
at the tunnel That's where I was,
behind machine gun. We set up four
Of them. There we're two bigger ones.
too, and they drove or q guYiboat two
or three times that tired to CORE in.
but when It got too hot these two had
70 be left behind. rc< A
Well, You see. an airShip came over
ana didn't see thing md we didn't
fire a shot Then the troops carne
marching IN and we let loose. and thew
went down like tenpius. Those that
were left scattered then. and honest.
1t w7s q joke. They wouldn't come
within 500 yards Of lis. If we'd had
enough ammunition we could have
stayed there for years. but the rest Of
It had gone ahsad, see, and the arr
ships started bombing us and we rot 70
running low on bullets.
Told Plans Went wrong.
Then the colonel. don't know what
his name was, but he, was the boss. he
came along and said the plans had
gone wrong somehow and we'd have 10
beat 1t. He told US to break up into
small groups and get back 70 the States.
where We signed on, and wait for the
next trip. So We beat 1t. Sneaked out
at night, changed back to our own
clothes. got to Santiago and took q
bus from there back to Havana.
We didn't have q bit OF trouble and
nobody bothered us. All Of them In my
gang were Americans. One OF them
used to be captain Of Marines, who
was down on his luck and needed the
money in Havana"
The sergeant said he and HIS come
panions took rooms in cheap ruOm~
ing house in the heart OF the city.
Asked about passes 10 get out Of Cube,
he grinned and showed slip of papeK.
All taken care Of" he said.
Moore had no estimate Of the num-
Der Of Federal troops killed excepk
that We knocked over plenty" but
said he knew of only two men Of his
party, who had been killed and about
eight wounded.
Reports from all sections Of the island
seem to indicate that everything =
entirely quiet, with no noticeable ac-
49,. - a A al