Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Not enough excitement for Lieut Fred (1917)

Columbia City Post ~ Saturday, June 9, 1917

Lieut. Fred Wunderlich, son of Mrs. Eva Wunderlich of this city, is now with a regiment of regular soldiers of the U. S. in the Phillippines [sic], with headquarters at Cebu. He writes his mother that "It is so blooming quiet and peaceful over there that it gets on one's nervers." He says: "There is little excitement over here. Every two or three days we get a little news over the cable, but very little. I suppose there is heaps of excitement at home. I wish I were there. I would rather be down in Jolo in Mindanao. The natives go on the war path down there once in a while and furnish some excitement, but in this place they are too lazy to even fight.

"They are having general mount in front of my office now. I wish you could hear the band. These natives are wonderful musicians and we have a remarkably good band.

"There are no white soldiers at this post. They are all native scouts with white officers. These people make very good soldiers if they have white officers. If left to themselves they are worse than useless.

"I had rather expected to be sent home when war was declared, but I have heard nothing of it, so I suppose I will stay here for some time. I am planning a little hunting trip up into the interior of Negros. It is about five days from the coast. One speaks of distance in the interior in days, meaning the distance one can walk in a day. Often there are no trails even for horses. Along the coast it is entirely different. There are fine roads and many automobiles may be seen."

Lieut. Fred is serving in the capacity of dentist for his regiment, and has been in the service now something more than a year and is getting along nicely.

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