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A DAY ON CORREGIDOR ISLAND

I’ve been reading about DOUGLAS MACARTHUR and the battle for BATAAN PENINSULA and CORREGIDOR since I was a child…..and the one big tourist desire I had when I went to Manila was to visit the island to finally see it for myself. And on Sunday, May 29, there I was
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It’s really a small archipelago, as you can see here. The “body of the polliwog” is where “topside” and “middleside” are located, while the “neck” is “bottomside”—all of which you can read about in the articles linked. The airfield was out on the tail, beyond “bottomside” a ways.

We began our day at the ferry terminal—this is the Ji family, who invited me to accompany them for the day:
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Sang-Hoon is a student at AIIAS - he sat in on our class most of the time, and ran the equipment for us, as well. Lovely family. Soon, a “bus” pulled up—it’s a form of the JEEPNEY, which is ubiquitous in the Philippines.
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Drivers customize their rides in various ways - this one was typical of many, with lots of chrome
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After a short ride, we got to the pier and saw our ferry
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and boarded for the plus of minute 60-minute ride. The seats were pretty comfortable
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and between that and having gotten up before 6:00 a.m. in order to get to the terminal, I joined a lot of people and dozed much of the trip. However, there were a few things to grab the attention….this safety poster, for instance….
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I can see the utility - no one wants the maintenance staff to fall in the water - but WHY would it be in the passenger compartment? And why during the regular operation of the vessel? Unless maybe they were cleaning and painting the exterior while we toured Corregidor? We didn’t see them, so it was all very surreptitious…..

Another thing that caught my eye was the upstairs….
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More imponderables….why the military guys (there were two)? And why the assault rifle? What were they expecting…..fearing? Should I also be afraid? Or was the guy with the rifle supposed to calm us? Ah well….I refrained from quizzing anyone about this.

I was intrigued by the big windows upstairs and figured they were paying more for a better view - otherwise, it was just to get on and off the boat first. But when I went upstairs to look, the entire front of the cabin was occupied by a snack bar, so there was no view to the front at all!! Terrible. I was glad for the cheap seats downstairs. I could look out the back and see Manila fading into the distance
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and also look out the front and see the body of the polliwog as we approached….
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Once on shore, we boarded trolley buses that were (more or less) facsimiles of the old electric railway cars that constituted the only way to get around the island before WWII
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The gent you see in the first photo was the guide aboard the bus we were told to get on, but when I plopped myself into the front seat, he informed us that this bus was only for Filipinos - that he was going to “tell the truth” and that we must go across the way and board a different bus. I actually made him repeat it, because I told him that #4 was the bus we’d been told to get on….but he insisted. Across the street, the guide told us that this was a doctor’s group, and that #4 was indeed the right bus, and that the guides could not limit their passengers in the way this guy seemed to want to.

I went back and told him all of this, and he let us on with good grace. I was a bit concerned about all of this, but he was perfectly decent the entire time…..and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the guides have quite a delicate challenge before them - they’re getting Filipinos, Japanese, and Americans….and there is enough history involving the islands and these three groups of people that explaining everything presents quite a minefield - particularly if you have a touchy individual from any one of the three groups! Americans colonized these islands for decades, after giving the residents to believe that we would give them independence from Spain…in fact we fought a rather BITTER WAR in the Philippines, replete with atrocities on both sides, accusations of treachery, etc. Some Filipinos could be expected to remember that, and not feel that our assistance in WWII and subsequent granting of independence had quite balanced the scales. On the other hand, some Americans will surely be of a different opinion, that the Filipinos should be down on their knees in gratitude to a liberating Uncle Sam, etc….. And finally, I’m sure that many Japanese haven’t fully internalized the history that the rest of the world sees pretty clearly - I mean about their predatory activities all around their islands back in the first half of the 20th Century….. Just think of having to give the history of all of this to a mixture of people. Fortunately, the Japanese tourists are mostly (if not entirely) on their own buses with a Japanese-speaking guide….I have NO idea what they hear about the history of the islands.

There is a pretty precise choreography of all the buses….because they have to arrive at the MALINTA TUNNEL no more than one or two at a time. We were first in line, and arrived at the “back entrance” to begin the multi-media show explaining this fascinating artifact of history…
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The purpose of the tunnel was defensive, with a 1,000 bed bomb-proof hospital, plus munitions storage, etc….but the electric trams were run through it, as well, which avoided a lot of road-building on the steep sides of the polliwog’s body.
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It was plenty dark inside….at least until they turned on the lights for us.
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There was a recorded narration, sometimes quite dramatic, sometimes musical, as we advanced in fits and starts through the tunnel. At some of the laterals, we could see “scenes”....this one was MacArthur and President Quezon….we stopped for this and other scenes, or for a video presentation, etc.
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Some of the tunnels were bombed out by the Japanese who occupied the island after May of 1942 when the American and Filipino defenders surrendered. Upon the return of MacArthur and the recapture of Corregidor, the last surviving Imperial troops retreated to Malinta….when it was plain that there would be no escape, they carried large amounts of explosives into some of the laterals and committed suicide rather than surrender. These have never been excavated….
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Once we’d left the Tunnel
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we re-entered our trolleys (which had circled around to the other end) and headed (appropriately enough) for the cemetery. From this side of the island, we could look across at the BATAAN PENINSULA, where about 75,000 American and Filipino fighting men surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. They were then treated to the BATAAN DEATH MARCH, a war crime for which the Japanese government apologized to some of the survivors…..in 2009.

Sights (and sites) like this are common on Corregidor - the Malinta complex has various openings in the hillsides, as do some of the gun emplacements….in addition, there were buildings here and there all over the place.
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There are also cheerier sights - this is a resort at which you can reserve a room and spend a few days on the beach, or perhaps do a more comprehensive tour than is possible on a day trip.
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Taxis or Jeepneys can be rented by the day for quite reasonable prices - then you could go where you wished and stay as long as you liked, rather than being at the beck and call of the guide on your bus. Our next stop was the Japanese Cemetery
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It was rediscovered (or perhaps forced to the consciousness of the world) when this photo was bought at a garage sale in the States….at least, so the story goes. Suffice it to say that only in about 1979 was the location of the last resting place of around 4,000 Japanese soldiers revealed, and proper arrangements for their memory were made….
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Down the road, MacArthur eternally PROMISES TO RETURN,
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but we barely stopped, because we were on our way to BOTTOMSIDE
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where lunch was promised….and delivered….
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no complaints….the food was good and plenty
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although I did get the POPE’S NOSE. It was hot, but on the beach there were lovely breezes so it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable…and the view was wonderful….
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After lunch, our first stop was at the MIDDLESIDE BARRACKS, where Filipino troops lived during WWII. Until fairly recently, these were badly overgrown by the tropical vegetation, and there’s a bit of controversy concerning the “restoration”. You can see both the stabilization efforts and the remnants of the forest here
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I’m not sure why they couldn’t have put in the steel to be sure the remnants didn’t fall down without cutting away the encroaching jungle….. Leaving one of the buildings to be swallowed up doesn’t seem too much of a desecration, and it would be a great reminder of the ephemeral nature of man’s intrusions…. Anyhow, there were two of these barracks (just at this spot - more elsewhere) - a LOT of rooms…..the guide said that they housed over 15,000 men.
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There are a number of GUN BATTERIES on Corregidor and perhaps the most intact is Battery Way
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Behind the screen of buildings to the left we see the four howitzers, capable of dropping a 12 inch diameter shell (either high explosive or armor piercing) in any direction, up to 8.3 miles away.
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Battery Way had a single gun still in action when the Japanese took over the island, and it was the last gun firing before the surrender. A hero served here….and he retired to Duluth, MN and was there when I took Chemistry at the University in the summer of 1966….although I knew nothing about it at the time.
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A different kind of gun is found at BATTERY HEARN
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With much longer range, these were most useful against ships out to sea - they could not be depressed below the horizontal and the shells available were the armor piercing variety, so their usefulness in the defense of Corregidor in 1942 was strictly limited. The shells are said to weigh half a ton each
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and they were fired different distances by the elevation of the gun and the insertion of different numbers of bags of gunpowder, which contributed both to the need for cleaning and to the heating of the barrel of the gun, limiting the rapidity of fire. After only a few hundred rounds, the barrel had to be replaced and the old one re-grooved to replace the rifling that gave the gun is accuracy. This position took a lot of damage in the battle, and the marks remain on the gun….a sample
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Whatever made those marks in the steel of the gun would have done a lot more damage to the men who worked it - thinking about the courage of the guys who defended liberty on Corregidor can make one grateful…..

As we headed uphill again, we passed other ruins
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on our way to the “Mile-Long Barracks”. This building was NOT a mile long….but it was three stories, and around 1500 feet long, so the total length of floors for soldiers’ rooms was (almost) a mile.
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Looking at this building, I was impressed with the beauty of such a utilitarian structure….
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Our next stop was the “Lighthouse Square”, with its plaza now surrounded by commercial establishments selling water, snacks, T-shirts, and schlocky souvenirs to remember your visit to Corregidor by. I didn’t even go in…..
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In the center was a signpost reminding me that I was a long way from home….
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Nearby, we stopped to get a look at “the polliwog” that is Corregidor….note the opening to Malinta Tunnel - the white spot at lower middle of the hill in front of you…..
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We passed the wrecked headquarters building
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and also BATTERY GEARY, whose eight mortars (in two groups) caused the Japanese on Bataan no end of trouble, until an enemy shell hit the magazine and 40 tons of powder blew up. The officer in charge had taken notice of the bracketing fire and retreated to a bunker for safety - thus only six men were killed, although large pieces of concrete and metal were blasted up to a mile away, killing two and wounding 31. You can see the depression (center right) where the magazine was between the far side group of four mortars and the near side group of four. There are gun parts both near and far…...
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It was time to leave the island…..so we headed for the dock
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I thanked our guide and driver - they really had done a nice job for the day
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navigating the various minefields (all of them verbal these days, I trust) laid out by the history of this place.

On board the boat, the soporific effects of the sea took over
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and it wasn’t only those of us with comfortable seats who were affected
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Soon we were nearing our destination, and Manila was in view
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We docked, disembarked, rode the Jeepney back to the terminal, got in the car and headed for the Mall….
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where we were to eat supper at JOEY PEPPERONI PIZZERIA
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We were hungry, and despite my best intentions, this is the best shot I got of our meal….
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You can see the Vegetarian Pizza - well, part of it - and it was really great. In addition, we had the Classic Romana, also delicious. Plus three kinds of pasta…but since they had parmesan, I didn’t really eat much of them. But it was a perfectly decent meal, parts of it (the pizza) were better than average, and the price (for an American, anyhow) was certainly right.

After a long day, we headed home….I’d love to go back again sometime. As with MACCHU PICCHU, the second time, I’d want to spend (at least) overnight, in order to see more and to have some time without the crush of the day-visitors.

Don’t visit Manila and not see Corregidor.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/05 at 09:25 PM

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