LUKBAN
continued to bail out the water . They drifted east for several hours when they got stuck in a coral reef . The shore was just 600 yards away . So they walked on the corals and started going to the shore , leaving their baroto . At night when the tide came in , it drifted to the sea . They had a bad time going ashore because of their wounds .
Two of the men started to look for water on the beach but found the dead body of another soldier from another boat . Then two of their badly wounded companions , whom they left behind on the shore , were found by Filipino fighters and were hacked to death . The remaining two slowly backed to the shore , confiscated a small boat from an old man after killing him , and headed to the sea . They were later rescued by the USS Pittsburg on its relief mission to Balangiga . 29
The fifth boat also sank in the rough seas after one of its passengers was transferred to the bigger boat . Its lone passenger sank with the boat . This left the fourth boat that carried 18 men . Only the persistence of its rowers saved the group after this , too , had a horrible time at sea . By noon that day , they had consumed all their water . Two of their badly wounded companions died while at sea , while two others died in the hospital . The boat arrived in Basey at 4 early the next morning . 30
According to official reports released when House Resolution 13005 was filed in the US House of Congress on July 16 , 1932 , four were declared missing , eight who were wounded died later , 22 were wounded and survived , and only four were not wounded . Total killed were 36 out of 74 soldiers present during the Balangiga raid . 31
As for the Filipinos , Daza in his affidavit listed 28 fighters dead and 22 wounded , while Pedro Duran came up with a smaller figure of only 16 dead .
Daza said they were able to gather about 100 rifles left on the battlefield and about 50 in deposit ; one shotgun , 3 carbines , 5 revolvers , 3 sabers , two pairs of field glasses , 7 watches and about 300,000 rounds of ammunitions , canned foodstuffs , liquors , medicines , and other things deposited in the Commissary of the Americans . 32
Reactions
When the first survivors arrived in Basey to relate their horrifying experience , Capt . Edwin V . Bookmiller , commander of Company G of the 9 th Inf . at Basey , immediately telegraphed the Visayas command headquarters in Cebu , the station of Gen . Hughes . Bookmiller was directed to proceed immediately to Balangiga in a small gunboat the USS Pittsburg . The boat steamed out of base at 9:00 AM on the 30 th and arrived in the Bay of Balangiga at 12:30 PM . It opened fire on the
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