Chapter 28When the regiment got within a half mile of
Caloocan, we stopped and began digging new trenches in preparation
for an attack on the city. About a half mile behind us, a Utah
regiment had set up some two dozen three-inch artillery pieces and
had already begun shelling the town.
However, the most devastating shelling came
from the USS Monadnock and USS Charleston out in
Manila Bay. They were firing ten-inch shells over our lines. The
guttural screech of those 130-pound shells passing over us was
unlike anything any of us had ever heard. Many men prayed that the
naval gunners didn’t mistakenly reduce the effective 26,00-yard
range of the shells.
For three hours, the town of Caloocan was
bombarded with the most intense naval and artillery barrage I have
ever seen.
“Ain
