The Union County journal. [volume] (Marysville, Ohio) 1875-1951, 1950-05-11

rounding jungle from their head
quarters there. The outbreaks
were scattered and likely to come
at any time.
MIR. Bouncler was under fire at
two different occasions during his
tour of duty on Luzon.
''The closest call / ever had
came on New Years Eve, 1900"
he recalled. THE entire troop
was out of town and only the
band was left in the barracks in
town. The Moros chose this time
to attack and they caught us flat
footed" he added.
I'VE had no rifles and had to
stand them off without six shoot
ers. Four men were killed in the
Company that was out on patrol
but no one was killed in the
band" the veteran remembered.
Kept Soldiers Awake
That type of attack was the
principal weapon of the Moros.
They would strike at a town and
keep up scattered firing all night
just to keep the soldiers awake,
according to Mr.. Bouncler.
The Americans never left the
towns in groups of less than 20
as natives were constantly wait
ing in the brush along the trails
to- ambush any lone man or small
group.
None of the natives could be
trusted" he said. They would
be friendly all day and when
night came they would sneak out
and start shooting at you," he
added. when they knew they
were trapped they would hide
their guns and knives and sur
render" the former drum major
added. after they were released
they would find their weapons
and go back to their fighting"
Prisoners Tortured
The natives were not inclined
to be very kind to their prisoners,
Mr.. Bouncler reported. He said
that many captives were cut up
with bolos and otherwise tortur-
ed. "One time we found two A
mericans who had been buried up
to their necks in sand by the
Moros who had smeared cane
suger on their faces. The ants
had almost eaten them alive" he
recalled.
Diseases ran rampant among
the native population in the Is
land but at that time did not affect
the American troops to any ex-
tent, he said. He remembered at
one time when a cholera epidemic
killed 500 natives in one day.
This was in 1900.
81 went into a native shop to
buy cigar once, he said, land
20 minutes later | saw them
carrying the owner out, dead of
cholera. l still why l never
caught the disease"
I'VE always boiled our dishes
and took quinine to prevent an
outbreak of disease in our camp,
Mr. Bouncler said.
Has No Souvenires
Although almost every veteran
of World War II returned with at
least one souvenir of his travels,
Mr.. Bouncler has none. "We
moved around too much to keep
anything like that" he said. "At
that time they didn't seem i'm
portant anyway" he added.
During his term in the army he
qualified as a sharpshooter with
the rifle and the As cal. automatic
pistol. The Philippine campaign
in which he took part was re-
sponsible for the development OF
the famed As pistol used by the
u. S. Government, he said.
"The 38 cal. Colt revolverS
used at that time simply were
not powerful enough to stop a
charging native" he declared
"The new As had the shock power
to knock them down even though
it didn't kill them," he added.
Retired in 1920
In all, Mr.. Bouncler spent
eight years in the Philippines,
his last tour of duty there being
in 1s14 The fighting ended in
1902 with the surrender of the
Native Rebel Chief. Mr.. Bounc-
ler's band played as the beaten
rebels marched into the Ameri-
can Camp.
During World War l he did not
go overseas but spent some time
on the Mexican Border with Gen
eral Pershing's expedition which
was sent to stop Mexican raids
into the Southwestern United
States.
After that expedition, he was
stationed in several states, includ-
ing Vermont, Montana, and New
York. On Jan. 20, 1920 he retired
from the Army at Fort Wachug-
ha, Arizona.