Smyrna times., 1945-07-12

Il III L
the japanese because of the hard
ships imposed upon them by our
enemy.
The Moro is ordinarily a small,
well-built individual. He is often
much stronger than would be ex-
pected of a man his size. On our
labor camp we have boxing quite
often. The gloves are just thrown
to group and the fight begins.
There is always large amount of
betting on all sports contests.
To completely describe the
Moros would require book. How
ever, 1 hope that this brief de-
scription has satisfied some of
your curiosity about this distinc-
tive race.
We all hope to be around to viist
Smyrna in the near future. Good
luck and may our victory come in
1945.
Respectfully yours,
John
1t. John L. Shortall, Jr.
A. S. N. 0-25544
A. P. o. 80, o Postmaster
San Francisco, California
balance of address on application)
Well, John, very long time no
hear and we were sort of wonder
ing what had happened to our for
mer friend from Clayton. Every
so often we hear about you, Dad
and sister Esther supplying the in
formation. Good of them to be
sure, but we were pleased to re-
ceive your letter telling us about
the Moro race. Quite an interest
ing group. But down beneath it
all, the most interesting bit of
news was to learn that you were
o. K. You may not fully under
stand the slant of the folks back
home, after one of their own
shoves off for overseas duty. Re-
latively speaking, it's like a ground
crew sweating it out until their
bomber lands safely after a mis-
sion. I do not mean in any sense
to make light of the danger and
hardship our fighting men are
faced with in the line of duty, but
I will give odds on the fact that
more worry enters the minds of
those serving on the home front,
than those giving battle to our
If this is not true in this
war, then I miss my guess very
much. Of course, there is always
the exception that goes to prove
the rule. Therefore, it follows that
the best news we ever hear is that
our friends are safe and well. That
beats the best kind of Christmas
dinner, including all the fixings.
Now on to the Moro race once
more.
At the close of the Spanish
American war, the Moros seeming
ly gave our forces on Mindanao no
end of trouble. One of their pet
pastimes was running amuck, kill
ing all those who were in their
path, until they were finally killed
themselves. At that time the us.
Army was armed with .38 cal. re-
volvers, and these were carried by
the Military Police stationed in
many of the villages. However,
the .38 cal. ammunition did not
have enough force to stop the
Moro quickly enough in his quest
for Christian lives. BY the time
the .38 cal. slugs stopped one of
the frenzied Moros, he had usually
cut down from six to a dozen per-
sons. The way the Moro got away
with this was partly due to the
fact that he prepared well in ad-
vance by twisting thin strips of
bamboo around different parts of
his arms and legs to retard the
flow of blood if younded. His sole
purpose was to kill and be killed,
but to take away as many as pos
sible before leaving this earth for
an unknown future.
Finally, the U. S. Army began
to realize that the score was run
ming too high in the Moros favor,
SO they did something about it..
That is when the As cal. ammuni-